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Today is the day to get all nutso about eights, or, maybe to just get nutso, if you have Olympic and/or Jonas Brothers and/or Boredoms-drum-extravaganza fever. (Woe to the person who’s suffering from all three.) All the eight-related hoopla got me to thinking about how the eighth track on many an album is a hit-or-miss proposition; particularly on longer albums in the CD era, it serves as something of a midpoint, and albums become unfocused and maybe stick their not-as-good tracks in there. For example: track eight on Appetite For Destruction, for example, is the OK-but-not-great “Think About You,” while track eight on Nevermind is the relatively irritating to my ears “Drain You.” And not to be all lazy-Google-research about this, but the phrase “track 8 is my favorite” only has 22 hits on the search engine; spell out the word “eight,” and you’re down to four.) Anyway, I decided to root through my collection and find some outstanding examples of an album’s eighth track–eight, in fact. They’re unordered, although the last one on the list is probably my favorite (and I found an amazing live version of it, to boot). Feel free to add your own!
Michael Jackson – “PYT” (from Thriller, 1982)
Helium – “Superball” (from The Dirt Of Luck, 1995)
Love Is All – “Spinning And Scratching” (from Nine Times That Same Song, 2006)
Aerosmith – “Lick And A Promise” (from Rocks, 1976)
Mother Love Bone – “Captain Hi-Top” (Apple, 1990)
PJ Harvey – “50Ft Queenie” (from Rid Of Me, 1993)
Janet Jackson – “Miss You Much” (from the CD version of Rhythm Nation 1814, 1989)
Afghan Whigs feat. Marcy Mays – “My Curse” (from Gentlemen, 1992)
My Bloody Valentine, “Sometimes”:
The Chameleons, “One Flesh,” from What Does Anything Mean? Basically:
Pixies, Doolittle. Mr. Grieves.
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Depeche Mode, “Here is the House,” Black Celebration (though search out the 1990 Martin Gore-and-acoustic-guitar versions from the Violator tour as well):
-hellogoodbye’s “Figures A and B” from Zombies!Aliens!Vampires!Dinosaurs!
-Norma Jean’s “I used to hate cell phones but now i hate car accidents” from Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child
-The Knife’s “You Take My Breath Away” from Deep Cuts (does that count?!)
-Fouth of July’s “She’s In Love” from Fourth of July on The Planes
-and of course, Horse the Band’s “Sex Raptor” from A Natural Death, which has some of the worst fan videos out there. But I do love that song…
Smashing Pumpkins, “Geek USA,” Siamese Dream…”Stoppen ze throwen ze cuppen.” (Remember when Billy’s sense of humor actually existed?):
Beach Boys — Pet Sounds — “God Only Knows”
Led Zeppelin, “When the Levee Breaks,” IV:
Okay, so I can’t believe Maura didn’t pick this one initially — Duran Duran, “Save a Prayer”, Rio:
NWA, “Express Yourself,” Straight Outta Compton:
Steely Dan – “King Of The World” (from Countdown To Ecstasy, 1973)
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Jay-Z – “Can I Live” (from Reasonable Doubt, 1996)
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I tried to post this before and don’t see it, apologies if this ends up showing up twice:
Pearl Jam – “Porch” (from Ten, 1991)
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Slick Rick – “Mona Lisa” (from The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, 1988)
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She Lives in My Lap
Books – Take Time
Los Shakers – Oh Mi Amigo
Sorry, but I always loved “Drain You”.
Using my iTunes sort-by-track-number feature, I found a few “notables” that some readers might enjoy.
(I won’t bother to worry about italics for the album titles):
U2, “Mysterious Ways”, Achtung Baby
AC/DC, “Have A Drink On Me”, Back In Black
Spinal Tap, “Break like The Wind”, Break Like The Wind
Chris Cornell, “Billie Jean”, Carry On
Alanis Morissette, “Head Over Feet”, Jagged Little Pill
Josie & The Pussycats, “Real Wild Child”, Soundtrack
R.E.M., “Bang And Blame”, Monster
Paramore, “Crushcrushcrush”, Riot!
Soundgarden, “Spoonman”, Superunknown
Spinal Tap, “Sex Farm”, Spinal Tap
Carly Hennessy, “Get You Off”, Ultimate High
Pearl Jam, “Rear View Mirror”, Vs.
But I’d have to say my favorite was:
Amy Winehouse, “Wake Up Alone”, Back To Black [whatever ended up at #8 here was likely to make my "best of" list, but this song actually is either my #1 or #2 favorite on the record]
Weezer-In the Garage
The Clash-Lost in the Supermarket
Guided by Voices-Echos Myron
“Ain’t No God in Mexico,” Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Jennings.
How about an eight-song list without links?
Jay-Z – Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)
Clipse – When The Last Time
The Roots – Here I Come
Michael Jackson – P.Y.T.
Jay-Z/The Beatles – Change Clothes
Radiohead – House of Cards
John Legend – Ordinary People
Kanye West, Jay-Z, J.Ivy – Never Let Me Down
Some random ones from favorite albums:
radiohead – Idioteque
Elvis Costello – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
Daft Punk – Rollin’ & Scratchin’
Arcade Fire – Haiti
autechre – Corc (which is possibly my favorite track of theirs)
Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies
Dismemberment Plan – Gyroscope
The Beatles, “Because” (Abbey Road)
The Cure appear to be great at this:
“M,” Seventeen Seconds:
“Faith,” Faith:
“Pornography,” Pornography:
Allison Moorer, “Send Down an Angel” (The Hardest Part)
Cool Kids – Gold & Pager
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Archers Of Loaf – Plumbline
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Mobb Deep – Up North Trip
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Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – Ain’t It Hard
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Nas – Represent
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Pearl Jam, “Corduroy” (Vitalogy)
“Southern Girls” from Cheap Trick’s In Color
“Waitin’ for a Superman” from The Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin
“Remember the Mountain Bed” from Billy Bragg and Wilco’s Mermaid Avenue Vol 2
And best of all:
“To Hell with Good Intentions” from Mclusky’s Mclusky Do Dallas
Mostly it’s “Monkey Man” off the Stones’ Let it Bleed. And whoever called Porch was right on. But also:
Bowie always saves the best songs for 8th:
“Fame” – Young Americans
“The Man Who Sold The World” – The Man Who Sold The World
I Apologize – Prick
Mountains – Prince
@Chris N.: word
madonna – the first album – everybody
I would be remiss if I did not point out that the 8th track from the Geto Boys’ album We Can’t Be Stopped is: “Gotta Let Your Nuts Hang”.
Richard & Linda Thompson — Dimming of the Day/Dargai.
8 songs of track 8
Room A Thousand Years Wide – Soundgarden Badmotorfinger
Your Savior – Temple of the Dog
Rain – Introducing the Hardline… Terence Trent D’Arby
Desire Froze Here – Ballad for Little Hyenas – Afterhours
You Borrowed – Meantime – Helmet
Shit Towne – Throwing Copper – Live
Diary Of A Madman – Diary Of A Madman- OZZY
Special Secret Song Inside – Uplift Mofo Party Plan RHCP
I think GhostofDuane is on to something with his Bowie theory:
“Boys Keep Swinging” (Lodger)
“I’m Afraid of Americans” (Earthling)
Snow Patrol – “Set Fire to the Third Bar” (Eyes Open)
Radiohead – “House of Cards” (In Rainbows)
Incubus – Drive (Make Yourself)
Gin Blossoms – “Found Out About You” (New Miserable Experience)
Foo Fighters – Next Year (There Is Nothing Left to Lose)
Local H – Eddie Vedder
Xzibit – The Foundation
Jay Z – Heart of the City
Willie D – Bald Headed Hoes
Leonard Cohen – Death of a Ladies Man
Wu Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.
Warren Zevon – Tenderness on the Block
El P – The Nang, the Front, the Bush, and the Shit
Bright Eyes – Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh
Fleetwood Mac – Landslide
Thin Lizzy – Cowboy Song
The Clash – Lost in the Supermarket
Clipse – When the Last Time
Weezer – Pink Triangle
The Fugees – Killing Me Softly
Randy Newman – Burn On
U.G.K. – Fuck My Car
Elvis Costello – I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea
Method Man – Release Yo’ Delf
Souls of Mischief – ‘93 Til Infinity
Tegan & Sara, “Walking with a Ghost” (So Jealous)
Program 1
Deftones – Birthmark (Adrenaline)
Kyuss – Tangy Zizzle (…and the Circuls Leaves Town)
Clutch – Tight Like That (Clutch)
Masters Of Reality – Deep In The Hole (Deep In The Hole)
Program 2
Tenacious D – Dio (Tenacious D)
Queens Of The Stone Age – 3’s & 7’s (Era Vulgaris)
Dead Kennedys – California Uber Alles (Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables)
Smashing Pumpkins – Tristessa (Gish)
AC/DC – If You Want Blood You’ve Got It (Highway To Hell)
Program 3
Mudhoney & Sir Mix-A-Lot – Freak Momma (Judgment Night Soundtrack)
Black Sabbath – Into The Void (Master Of Reality)
Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies (Paul’s Boutique)
Monster Magnet – Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother (Spine Of God)
Program 4
Jethro Tull – We Used To Know (Stand Up)
The White Stripes – Ball And Biscuit (Elephant)
Tool – 4 Degrees (Undertow)
The Verve Pipe – Photograph (Villains)
Silver Jews- “Albermarle Station”
That line about concentration beneath the ceiling fan is pretty amazing.
Superchunk- “Without Blinking”
The fact that is follows “Why do you have to put a date on everything?” just makes it that much more exhilirating.
Texas is The Reason- “A Day’s Refrain”
The whole second side of this album is pretty unbeatable, now that I think about it.
Information Society – Something in the Air
Bob Dylan, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” for some reason, is the first thing I thought of.
@PengIn: I see what you did there.
@MtHeartAttack: Didn’t you know? We’re not allowed to like “At Mt Zoomer”. Thought you got the memo.
Also..
Walkmen – “We’ve Been Had”
QOTSA – “In the Fade”; “Go With the Flow”; “3’s and 7’s” (damn)
I saw what Pengin did, then repeated one of his tracks. damn
Brian Eno – “The True Wheel” from Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy)
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Associates – “Party Fears Two” from Sulk (UK version)
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Track 8 from the US version of Sulk is top-drawer, also:
Associates – “Skipping”
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I tried this little experiment but I had to stop when I came across this one:
Tranny Sex – Dirty Sanchez
There’s no way I’ll be able to top that one…