15 Songs

#1 ALL TIME FAVOURITE SONG
Despite loving Joy Division for years, picking Disorder as my #1 favourite song was far from easy. Even if Joy Division isn't my every day jam these days – folks familiar with the band must understand – and hardly even my #1 favourite band, this and many other songs of theirs always find their way to the back of my head every now and then, aching to give them a listen again. I think I'm stuck being in love with their timeless lyrics and bass lines forever.

#2 A SONG WITH A PERSONAL MEANING
Hearing the first seconds of No Surprises – that, by the way, remind a lot of people of Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground, another song I have a past with – immediately takes me back to a time in my life that I wouldn't call darker but grayer. Without digging too deep into my own personal history, I'll just say this song was both comforting and terrifying to me years back. Love it nonetheless.

#3 A SONG THAT MAKES ME HAPPY
All of this album and film! Reservoir Dogs is always there to bring light in the midst of misery. The entire soundtrack makes me happy beyond words.

#4 FAVOURITE COVER
I never knew Fleet Foxes, I never even knew the original performer of this song (I do now, no worries). I just recall my friend linking me this and me falling in love with it instantly.

#5 A SONG I'LL NEVER GET TIRED OF
Pale Blue Eyes definitely gets onto the long long list of my all time favourite songs.

#6 A SONG THAT REMINDS ME OF A CERTAIN EVENT
This memory brings a smile on my face and takes me back to a night in November 2014 instantly. I was in Bergen with two of my friends, ending a week of backpacking in Norway with this guy's gig. Trying to fit a long story into a few words, I had sort of gotten to know this guy via Twitter and knowing I was coming to his show, he made his manager find me just as I was about to leave the venue. I ended up chatting with him, taking selfies and making the kind of bad jokes you can imagine slightly drunken people make at 11 PM on a Saturday night. Fairly enough he was the nicest guy and I don't think I've ever felt as privileged as I got to meet him without even asking. I didn't choose groupie life, groupie life chose me.

The song Crickets is my favourite one from his latest album and one of the many he performed at that venue in Bergen. It's also the song I ended up introducing to whoever listened to the radio show I hosted in Germany two weeks later.

#7 A SONG THAT REMINDS ME OF A CERTAIN PERSON
Despite the one-line-stories that Pet Shop Boys' song titles often provide, to me this song has nothing to do with drunken love confessions. It just reminds me of a person who introduced me to Pet Shop Boys.

#8 A SONG I'VE RECENTLY DISCOVERED
I had known of Marina and the Diamonds way before her album FROOT came out. The girly electro pop that her previous album Electra Heart mainly was was never for me but I maintained a low-key interest toward her and I'm glad I did – if I hadn't, I'd have probably missed this song, too. As Marina started dropping her new album out song by song I really grew fond of her voice and lyrics—hence why now I'm sad I'm missing her performance at a Finnish music festival this summer.

#9 A SONG THAT MAKES ME FALL ASLEEP
The title of Datarock's The Most Beautiful Girl doesn't only serve a great title for a song to link to your friend when they post a bomb ass selfie, but it's a sweet song that tells an interesting story in only a few words. It's also a calming song—often one I end up falling asleep to.

#10 A SONG FROM MY FAVOURITE BAND
It took me half a year to properly get into this band. I had and still have loads of friends who are major fans of Kaizers Orchestra and who often told me about them, but it wasn't until summer 2014 that I locked myself indoors accompanied with only my laptop (as per usual) and listened to their albums with lyric translations by my side. For the record, I've never been as glad to be able to speak Swedish, even if only on a conversational level. Falling for a Norwegian band with a godawful dialect would have broken my heart if I couldn't have understood a thing.
But I did and look at me now—calling them my favourite band and planning on getting a tattoo in their honour. They're not easy to get into; in addition to language barriers they pretty much fit no genres. Wikipedia tells you Kaizers play alternative rock, and I suppose that's correct if "alternative" has the ring of "oil barrel banging, full symphony orchestra and stories of the mob" to it to you.

#11 A SONG FROM MY FAVOURITE ALBUM
Violeta Violeta III is the last part of a trilogy I've grown very fond of in the last 12 months. Digging deep into the story behind these three 10-piece albums – of which the last one is my absolute favourite – would take way too much time, so you're just gonna have to trust me when I say they're kick-ass and worth a listen.

#12 A SONG THAT IS MY GUILTY PLEASURE
Practically Tom Jones isn't a guilty pleasure of mine—I don't feel guilty for liking any music these days. But seeing what kind of an audience he attracts when performing live proved this is the kind of music a 16-year-old should probably feel guilty for liking. Not that I do.

#13 A SONG FROM A FAVOURITE SOUNDTRACK
The soundtracks of Drive and Reservoir Dogs are constantly competing for the #1 favourite soundtrack spot in my heart.

#14 A SONG FROM MY CHILDHOOD
This Finnish song was pretty much the #1 track on all road trip playlists, always playing on the radio when I was a kid. My mum was good at picking the best radio channels.

#15 CURRENT FAVOURITE SONG
As I've made quite clear on this list, Kaizers Orchestra have become my favourite band and ever since discovering them I've walked in a circle of falling in love with almost every single song of theirs one by one. At the moment the object of my affections is this one.