Five Essential Songs

At SXSW this past March, punk icon John Doe, who co-founded X with guitarist Billy Zoom, took part in a Grammy Museum panel on the Ramones and explained that the Queens rockers were akin to "pop art," a bridge between Andy Warhol and street art. Doe also said that the Ramones influenced X, reflected in Zoom's guitar playing and even the robust brevity of many of X's early songs. So what better man to assess "Five Essential Ramones Songs" than the great John Doe?

Margaret Glaspy's dynamic full-length debut, Emotions and Math, is a thrilling joyride of sinewy, bluesy rock and pretty, robust ballads. She has been compared to Joni Mitchell by a lot of music critics and in truth, Mitchell's Blue has always stood out for Glaspy as an embodiment of great songwriting craft.

Derry-born Bridie Monds-Watson, who records as Soak, was born in 1996, two years after Joni Mitchell released Turbulent Indigo, but the Northern Irish songwriter discovered the elder musician's albums thanks to her parents. Read Monds-Watson's carefully considered list of her "Five Essential Joni Mitchell Songs" for FUV Essentials.

Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo has already released over a dozen albums via Bandcamp. Toledo's sharp, intelligent lyrics often reflect on his generation and brim with humor, violence, self-reproach, and sadness. His drive to release a lot of music, with and without his bandmates, also points to a restless documentarian, capturing ephemeral moments of millennial angst. When FUV asked him if he wanted to write about Beck—an artist who followed a not-so-dissimilar lo-fi path in his early days (without the advantages of laptop recording and Bandcamp)—Toledo agreed.

Britt Daniel, the lead singer and guitarist of Spoon, is a longtime admirer of Paul Simon's songwriting. When FUV asked Daniel if he could find the time to write about Simon for FUV Essentials, he swiftly sent on this wonderful assessment of his favorite Simon songs:

Joseph Arthur's album The Family was released on Real World Records in June, marking a nearly twenty year relationship with Gabriel and his label. Not surprisingly, Arthur deeply admires his longtime friend's music and drew up an insightful, personal list of "Five Essential Peter Gabriel Songs" for FUV Essentials.

Back when Wild Nothing's Jack Tatum visited WFUV for a session in 2013, in support of his lovely second album, Nocturne, he spoke of his admiration of Fleetwood Mac, Kate Bush, and shoegaze bands like Slowdive. His impressive 2010 debut, Gemini, deftly embraced the grey, dream-pop terrain of Cocteau Twins, The Go-Betweens, and The Cure. FUV asked Tatum to come up with a list of some of his "Five Essential Cure Songs" for FUV Essentials and his selections include a long-lost B-side that's been cropping up in the Cure's 2016 tour.

One of Laura Mvula's kindest supporters, especially as she first navigated the whirlwind of early fame, was Prince. Mvula discusses Prince's wise advice and more in her thoughtful and lovely assessment of "Five Essential Prince Songs" for FUV Essentials.

Wild Belle's keen appreciation of reggae music of the '60s and '70s, especially the releases of Bob Marley and the Wailers, is reflected in Natalie Bergman's thoughtful, esoteric choices for her Five Essential Bob Marley Songs for our FUV Essentials week honoring this great artist.

Courtney Barnett, who just played the Season 41 finale of "Saturday Night Live" (and rocked out a blistering "Pedestrian At Best" and "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party"), kindly found time to pull together a list of her Five Essential Bob Dylan Songs for FUV. Her selections stretch from 1964 to 1970 and shed light on her own songwriting process too: