Why It Matters

Fire is great musical fodder.  We want to stand next to it, make it when we kiss, have a burning yearning feeling inside of us.  Even after the fire the fire still burns.

I could go on and on, perhaps never burning out, so I’ll blow out the candle in the wind right now and just get to the music:

“Babylon’s Burning,” The Ruts.  Greatest punk band not to make the mainstream?  You tell me:

“Fire & Dub,” Matisyahu.  Like most of you, probably, I came to Matisyahu for the novelty and stayed for the quality.  Good stuff.

“Fire and Chains,” Frank Zappa.  Spoiler alert: The fire is caused by the guitar shredding that starts around the 1:20 mark.  You’ve been warned.

“Fireball Stomp,” Amazing Royal Crowns.  Remember them?  Yeah, I didn’t think so, which is too bad.

“Burning Spear,” Kashmere Stage Band.  By all accounts the best (or at least funkiest) high school band of all time.  The documentary Thunder Soul is mandatory viewing, and Texas Thunder Soul is mandatory listening.  Get on that!

“Fuel My Fire,” L7.  I saw Doc Martens in a mall shoe store the other day, which can only mean one thing:  It’s time for an L7 revival.

“Lake Of Fire,” Meat Puppets.  Speaking of the grunge era, how many of you suckers thought that this was a Nirvana song?  You disgust me.  Now kiss me.

“Burning With Optimism’s Flames,” XTC.  A longtime favorite band.

“I Burn For You,” Sting.  The only truly great non-Police song by Gordon Sumner’s favorite person.

“Blaze Of Glory,” Joe Jackson.  Joe is like Elvis Costello in that his musical range is so much broader than his new wave roots.  I love Look Sharp and Got The Time, but the jazzier albums were great, too.

“Fire,” The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.  Yeah, yeah.  I know that this is a predictable pick, but I had to include it on the slight chance that one of you isn’t familiar with the mad genius of Arthur Brown.

Okay, people, let’s burn one.  What are your favorite flamey songs?  I’m listening.