The 50 best songs to spring from Vancouver

> BY JOHN LUCAS, ADRIAN MACK, MIKE USINGER, ALEXANDER VARTY, AND KATE WILSON

Back in May we marked the Georgia Straight’s golden anniversary by listing 50 of our favourite local albums from the past half- century. As you might expect, limiting our picks to one LP from each year meant that not all readers were pleased with the results. “Where the fuck is Nickelback?” all of Surrey wondered. “Why no 54- 40?” asked others who hadn’t left the house since Expo 86 ended. “Bring me the head of Mike Usinger on a stick!” more than an angry few demanded.

We can’t help you with that last one, but Nickelback and 5440—both of which Straight writers have proudly put on more than one lovingly curated mix tape—did make the cut this time around. In honour of this week’s Best of Vancouver issue, we decided to shine a spotlight on our picks for the 50 best songs to ever come out of this rainsoaked part of the world, this time with no one-per-year restriction.

The choices range from the snotty proto-grunge of Slow’s deathless “Have Not Been the Same” and the raging hardcore of D.O.A.’S “World War 3” to the perfect pop of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” and, well, whatever the hell it is that Fake Shark does.

Your favourite Vancouver song might well be among the 50 entries below. If it isn’t, we know we’re sure as Christ going to hear about it.

Slow “Have Not Been the Same” (1985) Best song to emerge from the grunge movement? (Which, as more than one savvy historian has noted, actually started incubating in the Pacific Northwest long before Mudhoney released “Touch Me I’m Sick”.) “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, obviously. But “Have Not Been the Same” is the runner-up, an aural amphetamine rush that swings like nothing out of Seattle ever did. There’s a very good reason Slow’s immortal moment is first on this list.

Modernettes “Barbra” (1980) The perfect pop-punk single? With John “Buck Cherry” Armstrong marrying his inner Chuck Berry to a Ramonesstyle slash-and-burn beat, this witty, giddy confection is almost certainly it.

Sweatshop Union “Thing About It” (2004) Before rappers decided it was preferable to shout weird noises like “skrrt skrrt” and “scoo scoo” instead of lyrics, there was Sweatshop Union. At its socially conscious best on this record, the seven-person hip-hop collective explores how to escape materialism over jazzy guitar noodling and grunting bass riffs.

Sons of Freedom “The Criminal” (1988) SOF’S collision of industrial brawn and jagged white funk could easily compete with the good stuff coming out of Manchester and California at the time. If the Sons never quite got what they deserved, a soldout reunion in 2014 at the Imperial lent a nice epilogue to their story.

Fake Shark “Cheap Thrills” (2015) It’s never quite clear whether Kevvy and company are celebrating the delights of “cheap thrills and a casual romance” or mocking the creatures of the night, but don’t let a little ambiguity bother you while you’re shaking ass to this ridiculous, greasy slather of sleaze-funk.

The Poppy Family “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?” (1969) With a simple change of lyric, Susan Jacks took her then-husband Terry’s likableenough ode to Buddy Holly and turned it into one of the most enduringly lush slabs of romantic melancholia ever committed to vinyl. Proof that nobody could rain on the ‘60s quite like Vancouver.

Pointed Sticks “Out of Luck” (1979) At its most charming, the first wave of punk gave a shot of amphetamine to the same combination of cowboy chords and tarnished innocence that kept Chuck Berry and the early Beatles in business. It’s the genius simplicity-with-a-twist that amazes here. See also: “Barbra” by the Modernettes.

Mother Mother “The Drugs” (2016) The sound of a man unshackling himself from his chemical romance, only to discover that sometimes the things you substitute for your worst vices are just as dangerous—all set to some seriously triumphant-sounding alt-pop.

54- 40 “One Day in Your Life” (1987) There’s an almost irrefutable case to be made that 54- 40 is Lotusland’s greatest-ever singles band, the gold-standard offerings starting during the indie years (“Sound of Truth”) and continuing for decades on major labels (“Baby Ran”, “One Gun”, “Ocean Pearl”). Hootie and the Blowfish scored big with a cover of the quartet’s “I Go Blind”, but we’re naming “One Day in Your Life” as best in show, thanks to the hypnotic opening riff and cathartic trumpet-flourished finish.

Sweeney Todd “Tantalize” (1977) This late entry glam-rock barnburner was written by departed Sweeney Todd founders Nick Gilder and Jim Mcculloch, but sung by Gilder’s replacement, the then teenaged Bryan Guy Adams—aka Bryan “Yeah, that Guy” Adams. Too good to just give away, Gilder also included it on his debut solo album ( You Know Who You Are) from the same year.

Front Line Assembly “Mindphaser” (1992) For the complete early ’90s Vancouver cyberpunk experience, put the brain-zapping electro assault of “Mindphaser” on repeat while you read William Gibson’s Virtual Light from cover to cover. Dyeing your hair black and wearing bondage pants are optional.

Dan Mangan “Robots” (2009) The beauty of “Robots” is the way that it’s anything but shiny and happy on paper, that having everything to do with lyrics such as “The fire in my eye is fleeting now/ Your robot heart is bleeding out.” But even if you’re in the worst of moods, goddamn if you don’t end up singing your stupid head off to the song’s impossibly infectious back half. Sometimes it feels good to smile through the sadness.

Slowburn “Whatever” (1996) The cynically noncommital lyrical sentiment is quintessentially Gen X (“I love you, I suppose”), and quite frankly the sonics are also strictly ’90s, splitting the difference between shoegaze and grunge. But when that chorus hits, it feels like the greatest song ever.

Sonreal “Everywhere We Go” (2013) Aaron Hoffman proves that the 604 can do hip-hop that’s just as worthy of the big time as anything coming out of the 6. And the video is a hoot.

Nickelback “How You Remind Me” (2001) Nickelback may be more of a national joke than last year’s World Junior hockey team, but the band still manages to pack Rogers Arena on a Sunday night. That’s due in no small part to the pull of this track. With its pitch-perfect grunge vibe and justemotional-enough chorus—supposedly about Chad Kroeger’s tumultuous love life pre–avril Lavigne—it’s little surprise this record was nominated for a Grammy.

Pure “Anna Is a Speed Freak” (1994) It’s like a ’90s-rock time capsule, complete with a big post-grunge guitar riff, lyrics rife with drug references, and a Floria Sigismondi video featuring a crowd-surfing waif in her undies. And holy shit, what a catchy tune.

Zimmers Hole “This Flight Tonight” (2002) The first sign that Zimmers Hole’s reworking of a Joni Mitchell nugget will be a tad more molten than the original comes when singer Chris Valagao kicks things off with a guttural “Do you wanna get me a spit cup?” What follows is a metal maelstrom that makes Nazareth’s cover seem almost pastoral, the money shot coming at 1:57, which sounds scarily like a 747 landing at the gates of hell as the flight deck goes up in flames.

The Blue Shadows “Coming On Strong” (1993) “Hank Williams goes to the Cavern Club” is how Billy Cowsill and Jeffrey Hatcher described their brief but miraculous collaboration as the Blue Shadows. This instant classic strongly suggests that the Everly Brothers were tagging along, too.

Bob Moses “Tearing Me Up” (2015) Few can resist the lure of this track’s sultry guitar chords, rich bass triplets, and breathy vocals—and that includes Ellen Degeneres, who, after hearing this song on her car radio, immediately booked the boys onto her talk show.

The Enigmas “Windshield Wiper” (1985) In the wake of the great “Careless Whisper” scare of 1984, the Enigmas heroically took on the task of restoring the tarnished reputation of the saxophone and making it sound the way God always intended: like Mitch Ryder power-fucking the B-52s in the Sonics’ garage.

Young Canadians “Hawaii” (1980) Who among us, in rainy and perpetually soggy Vancouver, can’t relate Dishrags “Past Is Past” (1979) The to Art Bergmann’s classic lines “Let’s revolutionary thing about punk was go to fucking Hawaii, get drunk in the way it was the great equalizer— the sun/i wanna lay in Waikiki, get a anyone could form a band, includtan on my buns”? How great is “Haing three scrappy Victoria teenagers waii”, which starts with a killer guitar who relocated to Vancouver as the riff and then somehow, impossibly, Dishrags. Jade Blade, Dale Powers, gets even better? Well, let’s just say it and Scout were not only one of the narrowly edged out the YCS’ “Autocity’s first punk bands, but—more man” for this list, which speaks volimportantly— one of North Amerumes about its enduring genius. ica’s first all-female punk bands. “Past Is Past” drips with disaffection, boredom, and proto-grunge attitude, which is another way of saying that, without the likes of the Dishrags, there would have been no

Hole, L7, or Distillers. Respect.

Said the Whale “I Love You” (2013) The West Coast’s indie ambassadors serve up a dose of surging power pop that will make you want to contact estranged siblings and dance the pogo, although not necessarily in that order.

Art Bergmann “Our Little Secret” (1988) Yeah, “Bound for Vegas” is the obvious choice, but this anguished and complex exploration of incest shows off Art Bergmann’s immaculate pop songcraft alongside his profound capacity for empathy, something his crusty exterior can never quite conceal. Hannah Georgas “Evelyn” (2016) Queen of crafting electro-pop for intellectuals, Hannah Georgas masters her penchant for introspective lyrics. Oscillating between the nihilistic refrain of “Nothing really matters” and the hopeful “One day I’m gonna get there,” Georgas perfectly matches her emotional enquiries with brooding, arpeggiated synths.

The Age of Electric “I Don’t Mind” (1997) The four Saskatchewan transplants in the Age of Electric had already proven they could write a killer radio-rock single (see 1995’s “Ugly”), but the dead-simple “woo-hoo-hoo” hook of “I Don’t Mind” might be the catchiest thing in their catalogue— and maybe on this list.

Mounties “Tokyo Summer” (2014) Exotic Far East keyboards and cascading vocals are at the heart of a love song that works on multiple levels. “Tokyo Summer” not only captures the dizzying infatuation that comes with a new relationship, but also works as a breathless ode to Japan’s largest and most fascinating city. Never experienced the thrill of exploring Harajuku or Shinjuku, drunk on love during a humid August night? Start here for a good idea of what to expect.