If you ever talk to me and I can­’t hear you, these bands and these songs are prob­ably to blame for the con­di­tion of my ears.

  • ‘Deb’s night out’ – Shi­had. They might turn the noise up to 11 on oth­er num­bers, but this is quieter, more con­tem­plat­ive and all the more power­ful and bit­ter for it.
  • ‘The Lov­er’ – Fur Patrol. Is there any line more gut­ting than “This is the lov­er you left me for and I hope you’re happy now”? I don’t think so. Find it on their first EP Starlift­er.
  • ‘The Drink­er’ – The Phoenix Found­a­tion. “At the bot­tom of the bottle you can wipe your con­science clean” – and lord knows the Wel­ling­tonista try that, although for us it should be “At the bot­tom of the pine­apple…”
  • ‘And the truth faded into dust’ – The Dukes of Leis­ure. Get your son­ic noise on. Best heard at the plan­e­teri­um for max­im­um impact.
  • ‘I’m on fire’ – Head like a Hole. Nor­mally it’s the Phoenix Found­a­tion who get all The Boss up on us, but this cov­er is just per­fect, from Booga’s sleaze, to the wig-out at the end, and the video that fea­tured them play­ing on the roof ala U2, with the old Chan­nel Z Car­hoona driv­ing around below.