A year ago, Stephen King published a list of his top 25 rock songs in Entertainment Weekly, and he’s gone back to the “list of my favorite things ever” well with a list of the 20 songs that are most-played in his iTunes library. (Because when you’re a famous writer, thin concepts like this can be spun as “a glimpse into the exciting work lives of the wordsmithing elite” instead of “narcissistic laziness.”) In what’s no doubt an effort to make as much ad revenue as possible off King’s seemingly endless columnist contract and rein the horrorsmith in editorially a bit, EW has forced him to present his list to the clicking public in the form of a photo gallery. I can just see it now: “OK, Steve, we have to cut this blurb down from 400 words to 25 for space reasons! (And also because we want people to click on the next picture without being scared of being confronted by another impermeable block of text.)” List after the jump. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, his repeated listenings to a Tony Orlando and Dawn track are OK because it “sounds like a lost Jimmy Buffett song”!
20. Rock Your Baby, George McCrae (19 plays)
19. No Place Like the Right Time, Donna the Buffalo (22)
18. City of the Damned, The Gothic Archies (23)
17. The Bug, Dire Straits (24)
16. La Cienega Just Smiled, Ryan Adams (25)
15. Candida, Tony Orlando and Dawn (25)
14. Wave On Wave, Pat Green (26)
13. If You Wanna Get to Heaven, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils (27)
12. Treat Her Right, Los Straitjackets with Mark Lindsay (27)
11. Too Late to Turn Back Now, Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose (28)
10. Yeah (Pretentious Mix), LCD Soundsystem (28)
9. Wild, Wild West, Escape Club (29)
8. California Stars, Billy Bragg & Wilco (30)
7. Alabama Song, Allison Moorer (33)
6. Good Lovin’, The Young Rascals (34)
5. CB Song, Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers (35)
4. Castanets, Alejandro Escovedo (38)
3. 0394413, Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi-Rollers (49)
2. Going to a Go-Go, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (51)
1. Tube Snake Boogie, ZZ Top (59)
Stephen King: My Real Top 20 songs [EW.com]
@Rob Murphy: True. But just knowing that Stephen King is a fan makes me adore Jeff Tweedy just a tiny bit less. Immature, I know…
I just watched The Langoliers On Demand for the first time last week - and I want those three hours of my life back. Now.
@NeverEnough:GIMME GIMME/
WILD WEST/
GIMME GIMME/
SAFE SEX/
GIMME LOVE/
GIMME LOVE/
GIMME TIME/
TO LIVE IT UP/”
Watch and sigh:
@Audif Jackson Winters III: I was about to unleash a string obscenities and rude gestures your way for getting that song stuck in my head, but then I saw The La’s avatar and am now rendered incapable of hatin’.
@Audif Jackson Winters III: Ugh!!! This song will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day!!!
@Whigged: The Langoliers is On Demand? Kick. Ass.
Damn, the LCD Soundsystem song was a close call. I was scared he was gonna get adventurous and put The Arcade Fire on there or something.
King’s list is almost as bad as Bob Lefsetz’. Almost. Big points for “Tube Snake Boogie” making the top spot–though I could have sworn it was “Tube Steak Boogie,” which is actually only 10% more revolting than the real title.
“Pretentious Mix” is not just a song title, it describes the whole list…
At least Wilco wuz not robbed…
But no Hannah Montana? I call BS…
Any list with Allison Moorer on it is automatically awesome.
And nothing from the Rock Bottom Remainders?
The Escape Club?! Seriously?
As painful as the columns by “your Uncle Stevie” always are, the inclusion of “Rock Your Baby” by George McCrae in this lists is a mitigating factor.
@Chris N: Agreed about Allison Moorer. And “Castanets,” too - that probably cracks my top 25 most-played.