I saw shodowhawk?s op on this and thought I?d give it a go. Before I start though, here?s the challenge and the rules:

~ the rules ~

just three simple rules to adhere to :

1) use all the letters of the alphabet .

2) only one choice per letter , ie. no listing close seconds.

3) give reasons for your choices .

~ hints ~

using all the letters may seem an easy task , but believe me , you'll soon discover that some are considerably more difficult than others . then of course you have the enviable task of choosing just one record .

so here are some hints to help you complete the challenge :

1) solo artists , duo's or groups are allowed - use them wisely ,

eg.: lionel richie and the commodores could come under l , r and c

2) album tracks as well as single releases are allowed , but not whole albums.

3) proper names and stage names can be used

eg.: fredrick bulsara = freddie mercury



Right, I?m going to try and include a few different types of music that I listen to here so if any of them sound interesting to people, they can look them up. Here goes?.

A
Airbag ? Elena
Spanish punk band heavily influenced by the Ramones. In true punk style, few of their songs are over 2 and a half minutes long. This 3 chord pure energy song about a girl called Elena is about 75 seconds long (enough to include a bridge and key change). Good band to listen to if you like and punk and know Spanish so you can actually understand what the songs are about, otherwise I guess they sound like a lot of other punk bands. Ah well, I think I might be on my own here?.

B
Bryan Adams ? Summer of 69
Having spent a year at Uni now, there have been a lot of cheesy music nights so I have to include some cheese
in here, right?

C
Crowded House ? Don?t Dream its over
Beautiful song, I prefer the acoustic version, probably just because I prefer to play along to acoustic tracks.

D
Dylan, Bob ? Like A Rolling Stone
I feel stupid putting something like this in the list when I said people can look up something new, but I?ve only started listening to Bob Dylan in the last couple of months (I?m 18 ok, so I haven?t had much chance to listen to older music and my parents never listen to any either!). So this is for other young people: before we were born, there was good music too! Listen to it! :p

E
Estopa ? Tanta Tinta Tonta
My second Spanish band, however this one is far more famous, at least within Spain. Taking typical Spanish acoustic guitar sounds but writing songs in a more poppy style about ordinary life, friends and going out and moving traditional Spanish sounds into the present day.

F
Franz Ferdinand ? Take Me Out
Writing this list I feel like a character in Nick Hornby?s High Fidelity, though I doubt any of the characters would agree with a choice like this in the list, though probably few others too. But this is far too obvious a choice for F at the moment isn?t it. Well, actually, I don?t care, it?s a good song and I couldn?t think of anything else I really liked for F.

G
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
I don?t know what to say about this, it?s a modern classic. Sometimes I just need to here something like this to remind me that I?m not the only one gong crazy about things sometimes.
?And I don?t want the world to see me, cos I don?t think that they?d understand??. Get this song.

H
Hellogoodbye ? calln
return
Hellogoodbye are one of a couple of new bands just signed onto Drive-thru records. They?re certainly different. Synths, guitars and more distinctive vocals than most bands. They sound like an experimental band you might get supporting a punk band. I can?t get close to describing them. Rather than me describe them, you can download their EP, legally and free from here: http://www.drivethrurecords.com/hellogoodbyeep
I
Iio - Rapture
My first dance music choice, quite chilled for the kind of dance music I listen too and one of few artists I could think of beginning with I. :)

J
Jet - Are you gonna be my girl?
Another recent song here, first heard by most people on a mobile phone TV advert. A friend of mine recently got the bands new album from which this song is taken and although its not all as catchy as this song they seem quite good, so I?ve put them in.

K
Kate Ryan ? Scream For More
Hardly heard of in Britain but was quite big in the rest of Europe, where vocal trance is bigger. Shame she bothered making this then really because I guess it was made for the English market as its just an English version of Désenchantée.

L
La Oreja De Van Gogh ? Deseos de Cosas Imposibles
Spanish pop/rock band from San Sebastian in the Basque Country with a singer with one of the best voices I?ve ever heard. If only people in the English speaking world would listen to music in other languages they may find that not all pop music has to sound the same and be so boring.

M
Mago de Oz - Satania
I?ve just put this song in because its my favourite song by a heavy rock band. I would say heavy metal but they don?t quite fit such a narrow definition. Coming fro
m the Galician region in north-west Spain, a region with Celtic roots, it draws influence from Celtic music as well as metal music. I chose this song because it just seems the epitome of this type of music from the rock scream to the minutes of guitar solos in this 8 minute epic.

N
Nofx ? FrancoUnAmerican
Taken from the War on Errorism album, this is in here for the great lyrics. I love it, it sums up the views of people on the right (?Let the whales worry about the poisons in the sea, outside of California is foreign policy?) and the desperation of the left in the states ?I want to move north and be a Canadian, or hang down low with the nice Australians, I don?t want to be another I-Don?t-Care-ican?.

O
Oasis ? Whatever
No, not the song whatever, but anything Oasis have done because I love it all and I can?t pick one out of Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Don?t Look Back in Anger, Wonderwall, Live Forever, Champagne Supernova, The Masterplan, Half The World Away, Rock ?n? Roll Star? I could go on forever. As you may have guessed, they?re my favourite band.

P
Public Domain ? Rock da Funky Beats
If you like hard dance music you?ll probably already know this, or the group at least. If you don?t you?ll probably hate it.


Q
Q Mix ? Shakira vs Bee Gees vs Britney Spears
Not being a big Queen fan, it took me a while to think of what to put here. In the end I decided this was fair enough since I heard it on the Q music channel and this was the title. Quite a few of these kinds of mixes were made a year or two ago but I haven?t heard any (decent ones) in a while. Interesting especially if you l
ike making music too, to see if you can do any better.

R
Rasmus, The ? Still Standing
The Rasmus shot to fame with their recent single ?In the Shadows? so I thought I?d put this album track in to say that they?re not a one hit wonder, the rest of their most recent album (the only one I have so far) is really good too. If you liked the single I?d say check out the album and I?m sure you won?t be disappointed.

S
SKA-P ? Solamente por pensar
Almost at the end of the strange Spanish bands ok? This one is a Ska band as you might guess, though the meaning of the name, pronounced in Spanish, is ?escape?. Their songs are about all kinds of topical issues like poverty, the death penalty, child soldiers, anti-globalisation, Iraq and so on. They should probably write on dooyoo. They?d be very entertaining if their songs are anything to go by. Often very funny, but again only if you know Spanish. Sometimes very serious too. A lot of irony used. This song is about anti-globalisation protests in Italy that ended in the police killing a protestor.

T
The Ataris ? San Dimas High School Football Rules
Classic punk song by a classic punk band. This is the song they end every gig with and if you have The Ataris newest album, the only one released on a major label, you might like to look at some of their older albums where you?ll find, in my opinion, some even better songs.

U
U2 ? Beautiful Day
Apart from being a good song from a good band, as it?s the theme tune for the Premiership, it reminds me of football. Always a good thing :)

V
Ville Virtanen (aka. Darude) - Sandstorm
Ha, sorted out a tough letter there, Sneaky huh? This is probably my favourit
e dance song ever. Even though when it came out it was totally overplayed it?s still great whenever I hear it. Same goes for the last four, four more dancey songs that I like and also happen to start with letters that few bands do.

W
Warp Brothers ? Phat Bass

X
X-Press 2 - Lazy

Y
Yomanda - Sunshine

Z
Zucchero ? Baila Morena


Phew, that took longer than I thought. Lets get other people doing this like the lazy debates please. I can find some new music to listen to this summer then hopefully, as well as new fans for bands I?ve included hopefully.

Thanks for reading,

Dan