"Silver Machine"

Actually, I lied about the Motorhead track. There are two heavy metal songs you need to own, and Lemmy sings on both of them!

"Ace of Spades"

If you can only contemplate owning one heavy metal song, this should be it. All you need to know about long hair, leather, bad skin and ear-bleeding volume in two minutes and forty-six seconds.

"Stay With Me"

It's a loud, obnoxious, raucous, mysogynistic, funny, irresistible party. You will dance. And to think Rod Stewart gave this up for dross like "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy"..... There was a time when he was a fantastic soul singer, and Ron Wood was a pretty fair guitarist too....

"Tipitina"

A rolling New Orleans bar-room groove, a master of boogie-woogie at the keyboard, a few shots of tequila... all you need is a Cajun dictionary to work out what Professor Longhair's singing. Damn, this is fun!

"Kiss Me Hardy"

Serge Gainsbourg never made for comfortable listening, his subject matter was often deeply suspect, but he had an impeccable ear for rhythm and a tune. Maurice Chevalier wouldn't have stood a chance if Serge had been around a little earlier. This one's about cruising gay bars, Francis Bacon and a pun about Nelson's dying words. But when it's sung in French, you sort of forget all that. Actually, scratch the Maurice Chevalier reference... he'd have had a coronary.

"Peach"

Once in a while Prince gets back to his roots. If Dirty Dancing was a sport, this would be the soundtrack. It's downright nasty, misogynist, funky and frankly, irresistible.

"The Sound of Musik"

If you thought "Rock Me Amadeus" was over the top, this goes just that little bit further. I think Falco stuck a kitchen sink in there somewhere, too. It's rap for the uncomprehending Europeans, it's as funny as hell.

"Deeper Underground"

What is it with Jamiroquai? Jay Kay's got the best soul voice since Stevie Wonder, he cooks up evil hooks, and he moves like he's slept in Vaseline all his life.

"I Ain't Ever Satisfied"

There's a dusty, arid hopelessness about this song, perfectly conveyed by the almost-monotone vocals. Steve Earle is one of those few guys who's reached a point where he isn't afraid to take on the moral majority with in-your-face observations about "Amerika", but when he was still earning his stripes he created some great country imagery: "I was born by the railroad track/Well the train whistle wailed and I wailed right back".