Although “going forward” I always had an approximate plan for The 143 as as labour of love, the experience of writing the blog itself told me that the final countdown was bound to be subject to change. Initially I was adding a new song at the rate of about three or four a week – a rate that was seasonally adjusted by other work commitments. So I made an early decision to officiate it this way: as soon as a song was written about and published on the blog, it was on the statute books. No returns. No rewrites. No recounts. Until that decisive click of the “publish” button, I reserved the right to fiddle with the final 143, pooled in the amorphous personal playlist of origination, which hardened into objectivity over time. I logged each entry as I published it, and here they are.
A reminder: the songs are listed here in no particular order; neither alphabetical, nor chronological, nor generic, nor quantitative. This is just the order I felt moved to write about them in. However, you can find them listed alphabetically and chronologically on other pages.
The Rakes We Are All Animals 2005
Public Enemy Rebel Without A Pause 1987
Colourbox Just Give ’Em Whiskey 1985
The Elgins Put Yourself In My Place 1966
Beastie Boys An Open Letter To NYC 2004
George Harrison Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) 1970
The Wedding Present My Favourite Dress 1987
The Jesus & Mary Chain Never Understand 1985
Wu-Tang Clan Let My Niggas Live 2000
Bob Dylan Tell Me That It Isn’t True 1969
Everything But The Girl Each And Every One 1984
The Orb Little Fluffy Clouds (7″ Edit) 1990
The Jackson Sisters I Believe In Miracles 1973
The Sisters Of Mercy Lucretia My Reflection 1988
The Source featuring Candi Staton You Got The Love (Now Voyager Radio Edit) 1991
Pink Floyd Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-V 1975
Elvis Costello and the Attractions Beyond Belief 1982
The Temptations It’s Growing 1965
The Cure One Hundred Years 1982
Electric Light Orchestra Mr Blue Sky 1977
Morrissey Everyday Is Like Sunday 1988
Lionrock Fire Up The Shoesaw 1996
Adele Rolling In The Deep 2011
Scott Walker Montague Terrace (In Blue) 1967
Pet Shop Boys Always On My Mind 1987
The Rolling Stones Wild Horses 1971
Frank Wilson Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) 1965
Manic Street Preachers Motorcycle Emptiness 1992
Joy Division She’s Lost Control 1979
Billy Bragg Tank Park Salute 1991
The Smiths Rusholme Ruffians 1985
Crosby, Stills & Nash Marrakesh Express 1969
Blind Boys Of Alabama Way Down In The Hole 2001
Dr Dre (feat. Snoop Dogg) Still D.R.E. 1999
Led Zeppelin Whole Lotta Love 1969
The Lotus Eaters The First Picture Of You 1983
The Human League Being Boiled 1980
Dave Brubeck Quartet Take Five 1959
Tom Waits Jockey Full Of Bourbon 1985
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds City Of Refuge 1988
The Farm All Together Now 1990
Talking Heads Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) 1980
The Velvet Underground Venus In Furs 1967
Bobby Womack Across 11oth Street 1973
Kevin Coyne Dynamite Daze 1978
The Fire Engines Candy Skin 1981
James Brown Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine Part 1 1970
Echo & The Bunnymen The Killing Moon 1984
The Waterboys The Whole Of The Moon 1985
DJ Scott La Rock, Blastmaster KRS One & D-Nice South Bronx 1986
The Eagles Hotel California 1976
Nancy Sinatra These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ 1966
Eric B & Rakim Paid In Full (Seven Minutes Of Madness – The Coldcut Remix) 1987
Bauhaus In The Flat Field 1980
America A Horse With No Name 1971
Beyoncé (Featuring Jay-Z) Crazy In Love 2003
XTC Making Plans For Nigel 1979
Bob Marley & The Wailers No Woman, No Cry (Live) 1975
Prefab Sprout When Love Breaks Down 1984
The Psychedelic Furs Fall 1980
Nine Inch Nails Something I Can Never Have 1989
The Shirelles Baby It’s You 1961
Teenage Fanclub The Concept 1991
Sex Pistols Pretty Vacant 1977
Glen Campbell Wichita Lineman 1968
The Triffids Wide Open Road 1985
Sparks Number One Song In Heaven 1979
Asian Dub Foundation Free Satpal Ram 1998
Carter USM The Only Living Boy In New Cross 1992
Althea & Donna Uptown Top Ranking 1977
The Beach Boys Good Vibrations 1966
Sly & The Family Stone Family Affair 1971
Tubeway Army Are ‘Friends’ Electric? 1979
Killah Priest B.I.B.L.E (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) 1995
Robert Wyatt Shipbuilding 1982
Cornershop Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook Remix) 1998
The House Of Love Christine 1987
Woody Guthrie This Land is Your Land 1944
Killing Joke Love Like Blood 1985
Indeep Last Night a DJ Saved My Life 1982
Arctic Monkeys When The Sun Goes Down 2006
The Stone Roses Fools Gold 1989
Sonic Youth (I Got A) Catholic Block 1987
Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark Electricity 1979
Wah! The Story of the Blues Part 1 1982
Sleaford Mods Face to Faces 2015
The Undertones You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It!) 1979
Arcade Fire Rebellion (Lies) 2004
Pigbag Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag 1981
The Spinners It’s A Shame 1970
The Byrds Eight Miles High 1966
Massive Attack Unfinished Sympathy 1991
Simple Minds Theme for Great Cities 1981
Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds 1968
The Chameleons Don’t Fall 1983
Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A. 1984
Circles Of Life 
Not One Track on this List, I would have chosen, Excellent nevertheless. Though several of the Artists would be on my 143.Intriguing and Thought Provoking, esp on PE and Wu Tang Clan.
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About 8 tracks here are on my favourites list. Quite a diverse list of yours!
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For those interested, I’ve started building a Spotify playlist of ‘The 143’. Due to a couple of missing tracks so far, it is currently shaping up to be ‘The 141’. Any how, it’s on the link and I’ll update as Andrew adds more tracks to this site http://open.spotify.com/user/multipurpose/playlist/6Pd0WEqLWL5NPO5m7NVBB0
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Done you one on Deezer 😉 http://www.deezer.com/en/playlist/570394011
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Hi – fantastic read and great song choices. As a dj Andrew always managed to come up with songs I liked even if they weren’t always my favourite artists and this list reflects that. As a Q and subsequently Word subscriber from the first issue I’ve read a lot of his journalism and these articles remind me of how good it was. I’ve even read his books despite what Richard Herring might think about their popularity and I once sat in front of him at an AIOTM gig. Keep up the great work.
Thanks to Steph for the Spotify playlist.
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Loved your list – thanks for posting. Here are the tracks from your list that are new to me that I plan to download:
ABC Unzip
Beastie Boys An Open Letter To NYC
The Orb Little Fluffy Clouds (7″ Edit)
Jim Bob Cartoon Dad
Cud Rich And Strange
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No Talk Talk? Dream Academy?
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There are 41 songs still to add, so it’s not over yet.
From your comment, I infer that Talk Talk and Dream Academy would be in yours.
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Definitely 🙂 I forgot you’ve not finished yet! Great project. 🙂
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You were looking through your record collection, you came to The Doors and you walked on down the hall…
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