Top Ten Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune & Pluto Songs

OK, following Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, I struggled to make a decent Top Ten with any of the other planets in our solar system. So here's the best of the rest, with two caveats...

i) There are no decent Uranus songs. For obvious reasons. And yes, I do include 'Rocket To Uranus' by The Vengaboys when I make that statement.

ii) I know Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore by those who know far better than me. But it's still better than Uranus.



10. Grandchildren - Saturn Returns

More interesting than the R.E.M. song of (almost) the same title. I know very little about this band other than they're from Philadelphia and don't appear to be any relation to Grandaddy.

9. Stevie Wonder - Saturn

Stevie's had enough of all the bad stuff - y'know, wars, murders, people nicking your trolley when you pop to the toilet in Tesco - so he's packing his bags and moving to Saturn, the planet where people live to be 205.

8. Tori Amos - Hey Jupiter

I'm not even going to attempt to tell you what this song is about. It's far too deep for a dumb-head like me.

7. The B-52s - Hallucinating Pluto

Because I have an extremely juvenile sense of humour, I love the fact that the only things written on the youtube page for this song are...

All rights and ownership go to The B-52's.

...and...

penises

6. Train - Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)

Come on, you'd almost written Train off as a one-hit wonder, hadn't you? I quite liked their new MONSTER HIT, Drive-By, until Louise asked me, "What are you listening to - is that the Jonas Brothers?"

5. The Futureheads - Jupiter

When your life fills you with despair,
You have to believe that there’s good out there
No enemies anywhere
Then you are free

If you're quick, lads, you can share a rocket with Stevie Wonder. He's going in vaguely the same direction.

4. Super Furry Animals - (Drawing) Rings Around The World

A little bit of a cheat, but worth it. A Saturn song in all but name.

3. The Divine Comedy - Neptune's Daughter

When the last course has been consumed
They withdraw to the drawing room
Where the Schubert she plays with style
Keeps her friends happy for the while
But the memories are a burden,
So she draws back both the curtains
Stepping out into the night...

Neil Hannon: the Noel Coward of indie-pop.

2. Donovan - Jennifer Jupiter

What's that, you say? "Juniper"? Don't be daft...

1. The Inspiral Carpets - Saturn 5

Dig that funky Clint Boon organ!

An Eagle lands, and a planet full of people raises its hands
All hail the men who will walk up in heaven today

So, that's the rest of my musical solar system... which would you land on? (Uranus, anybody?)

Top Ten Mercury Songs

Back into space, this week with ten songs about (or very loosely connected to) the smallest, hottest planet in our solar system...

10. Long-View - Further

OK, I'm stretching the rules, but this is from the debut Long-View album, called 'Mercury', and it's a nice enough noise.

9. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - On Mercury

The Chilli Peppers go ska. I'm not the world's biggest RHCP fan, but I love the fact that Flea was in the Back To The Future movies.

8. Bloc Party - Mercury

Their Mercury's in retrograde. The video is what happens if you eat too much cheese while watching Planet of the Apes... and then fall into a nightmare.

7. American Music Club - Johnny Mathis' Feet

I've had to cheat again. As with the Long-View song, this is from an album called 'Mercury'. But never mind that - the name of this song is Johnny Mathis' Feet! You need no other reason to love it.

6. Todd Snider - Thin Wild Mercury

A song about the rivalry between Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. Billy Bragg would have something to say about that.

5. Counting Crows - Mercury

It's a sunny day as I write this (I'm sure it won't be by the time it gets posted) and there are few better bands for chilling in the summertime. The music of the Counting Crows evokes long, dusty roads stretching off into nowhere and a heat haze on the horizon. Not quite as hot as the planet we're celebrating... but hot enough for me.

4. The Steve Miller Band - Mercury Blues

Lots of songs have been written about American cars. This is just one of them, and it's a Ford too. See, American songwriters had it easy. Try writing a song about a Ford Escort, Sierra or Mondeo... without sounding like Alan Partridge.

3. Kathleen Edwards - Mercury

Another song about the same car... though this one leads to a tragic death. Don't smoke pot and drive, kids.

2. Mercury Rev - Goddess On The Hiway

How could I have a Mercury list without the Rev? This is their finest moment, a song built around a quite dreadful pun... and yet, a thing of great beauty.

1. Freddie Mercury - Mr. Bad Guy

Well, it had to be. I could have chosen any number of Freddie songs, but this one wins out for its shamelessly autobiographical nature, and the fact Fred sings:

Can't you see?
I'm Mr. Mercury!

Yes, he's everybody's Mr. Bad Guy. They're all afraid of him. He can ruin people's lives. And somehow he manages to rip off both the Jaws and Psycho themes in this track...



Those are the songs that get my Mercury rising... but which is your Mr. Bad Guy?

Top Ten Astronaut Songs

Leftover from my collection of Spacemen and Spacewomen Songs, I realised I had enough tracks to make an Astronauts' Top Ten too. And I think it's gonna be a long, long list...



(Sadly no Sleeper in this list, but their debut album cover seemed appropriate.)

10. Clint Boon Experience - Andy Gill Astronaut / Tiger Woods Astronaut

I couldn't find either of the above tracks from Clint Boon's seminal 1999 album The Compact Guide to Pop Music & Space Travel anywhere on youtube, but I did find this, an alternate version with Phillip Glass as its inspiration.

9. Cloud Atlas - Even Astronauts

A Welsh band named after David Mitchell's insanely enjoyable novel (soon to be desecrated at a cinema near you with Tom Hanks... presumably he'll play one of the clouds... or an atlas... or a plank). Cloud Atlas have a chunky indie guitar sound and interesting lyrics. Sadly, it looks like they gave up the fight a couple of years back. Unless you know differently... (I've stopped saying bands have split up because someone always ends up telling me they recently got back together.)

8. Guns 'n' Roses - Rocket Queen

A song about a girl Axl knew who was going to call her band Rocket Queen (and therefore nothing to do with actual astronauts), this sneaks into the Top Ten by being from the very best GNR album and rocking like a chair.

7. Suede - Astrogirl

Because it's high time we had some Brett Anderson in one of these top tens. Even a track from the least popular Suede album is better than nothing.

6. Amanda Palmer - Astronaut

This, on the other hand, is one of many stand out tracks from the very best Amanda Palmer album (thus far - there's a new one promised later this year from the prolific Mrs. Gaiman), Who Killed Amanda Palmer. Also, if you're looking for a rhyme with 'astronaut', 'after-thought' takes some beating...

5. Frigid Vinegar - Dogmonaut 2000 (Is There Anyone Out There?)

A lost classic from the 90s about a YTS Jedi who steals the wheels off abandoned spaceships. You can't make it up.

4. The National - Looking For Astronauts

The National are a great example of a band whose lyrics sound like they mean a lot more than they actually do. That's not a bad thing. Not always, anyway.

3. Riff Raff - I Wanna Be A Cosmonaut

Before he was Billy Bragg, he was just one half of Riff Raff (with Wiggy). They made a delightful punk noise... but his best tunes lay ahead of him.

2. The Divine Comedy - Laika's Theme / Absent Friends

Laika, if you're scratching your head, was a pioneering astronaut: the first dog to successfully orbit the earth. Sadly, she died up there, but Neil Hannon paid eulogy to her twice on the album Absent Friends, firstly on the instrumental theme named after her, and secondly in the title track...

Laika flew through inky blue
'Til Laika neared the atmosphere
And Laika knew
Laika's life was through.
Here's to absent friends...

1. Elton John - Rocket Man

I'm surprised nobody's asked me about the absence of this track from previous lists - it could easily have fit the Spacemen, Countdown, Spaceship or Mars Top Tens ("Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids," after all). I've been saving it up, because whatever you might think of Elton's crimes against sanity in recent times... there's no denying this is a stone cold John/Taupin classic.

"I'm not the man they think I am at home..."

Indeed.



Those were my favourite astronaut songs... but which one gets you high as a kite?

Top Ten Space Alien Songs

I know, I promised you my Top Ten Astronaut songs this week... but with the release of Prometheus, this one seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

This Top Ten is also dedicated to the late Ray Bradbury, one of my favourite authors. Something Wicked This Way Comes is among the greatest novels ever written.



10. Arctic Monkeys - Space Invaders

A Monkeys rarity. Can't remember where it came from. It's an Unidentified Playing Object.

9. Magnetic Fields - Alien Being

You talk a lot about nothing at all
Watch TV shows about nothing at all
Think a lot about nothing at all
Listen to songs about nothing at all

You write the laws about nothing at all
Make 3D films about nothing at all
Stage happenings about nothing at all
Sound and light shows about nothing at all

You complain about nothing at all
Go insane about nothing at all

You have no feelings
I think you are an alien being

8. Neil Hannon - Aliens

Another rarity: it's not often you hear Neil Hannon releasing a song under his real name. This was part of an Oxfam charity album called The Cake Sale. It's really quite lovely.

7. Dweeb - Chart Raider Space Invader

Dweeb were a late 90s indie band who sounded quite a lot like Ash and had most success with their excellent single Scooby Doo. This was their debut record... good luck in tracking it down!

6. Soko - I Thought I Was An Alien

Kind of a French Bjork, Soko transfixed me a couple of years back with her superb stalker anthem I'll Kill Her. Apparently she hates it now she's grown up a bit. Because I haven't grown up, I still love it. I Thought I Was An Alien is the title track of her latest album.

5. Dan Bern - Talkin' Alien Abduction Blues

In which Dan Bern gets abducted by aliens who strap him down, stick a probe up his nose... and start critiquing his songwriting.

Then they waved this wand around my head
Said, "Now we're reading your thoughts, you see
You got an awful lot of songs in there
Though it seems they're all in the key of G"

I said "What about Marilyn? That's in D"
They said "D flat, actually"
I said, "Yeah, because I tune it down a half step
What about Hannibal?"
They said "What about Hannibal?"
I said "Well, technically, it's in G
But it's really a dropped D tuning capo'd up"

They said "How come you don't play the harmonica more?"
I said "How come I'm in a space ship
Talking to aliens about my act?"
They said, "We'd rather talk physics
But you're illiterate there"

Couldn't argue.

4. Fountains Of Wayne - I Want An Alien For Christmas

Top of the FOWs Xmas list: a little green guy about three feet high with 17 eyes who knows how to fly. Who wouldn't want one?

3. David Bowie - Starman / Loving The Alien

Can you believe it's 40 years since the release of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars? I could easily have filled a Top Ten just from the Bowie back catalogue, but Starman is undoubtedly his greatest alien moment (and not just because it gave its name to the John Carpenter / Jeff Bridges movie). Loving The Alien can't compete, but it does feature one of crazy Davey's maddest videos.

2. Radiohead - Subterranean Homesick Alien

Like Bowie, Thom Yorke could easily have fallen to earth with a bump. Could this be his most autobiographical song?

I wish that they'd swoop down, in a country lane
Late at night when I'm driving
Take me on board their beautiful ship, show me the world as I'd love to see it
I'd tell all my friends but they'd never believe me
They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely
I'd show them the stars, and the meaning of life
They'd shut me away, but I'd be alright
Alright

1. The Carpenters - Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Crafts (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day)

Originally recorded by Klaatu, who score an extra point for naming themselves after the alien hero of The Day The Earth Stood Still... but it's Karen Carpenter's version I consider definitive.



Those were my favourite alien anthems... but which one will you take to your leader?

Top Ten Spaceman & Spacewoman Songs

We're still up in space... but before we visit any more planets, here's a few songs about the men and women who might be making the journey alongside us.

10. Babylon Zoo - Spaceman

If you remember the 30 second jeans ad that made this song a hit, you might remember being rather confused on hearing the full-length version. The rest of the song sounds very different to the bit everybody knows. Watching the video again, I can't help but conclude that Jas Mann was a bit of a git: and his lyrics are pretentious drivel (please stop listening before you get to the "intergalactic Christ" bit). Still, it was a moment in time.

9. Drugstore - Spacegirl

See, I was about to type, "ah, Drugstore... whatever happened...?" until a little birdie told me the band recently got back together and released their first album in almost a decade. Further investigation is required...

8. Belle & Sebastian - A Space Boy Dream

I dreamt I had to go to Mars.

I'm always kidding on about going to Mars for the day
But faced with the reality of it, in a dream, I was terrified.

And it wasn't going to be like a moon trip
There was three of us going, but we couldn't all go on the same ship
We had to go one at a time with a day between us.

The other two astronauts were going to be my dad and my sister
And my dad would come first after me
So I decided when I landed I would just stay in my seat until he got there
And then we could get out together and have a look around
And see what sort of things were there.

7. The Killers - Spaceman

Whatever else you might think about Brandon Flowers, you've got to give him some credit for wearing the outfit he wears in this video. He looks kinda like Mister Sinister from The X-Men. If I were his dad...

"You're not going out wearing that in public, are you, lad?"

6. The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman

As the man who uploaded this to youtube remarks: "good song". Fair enough.

5. Patti Smith - Space Monkey

Of course, it wasn't men or women who went into space first - it was the animals. (We'll have more of them in my Top Ten Astronaut Song list next week.)

I have come to the conclusion that the best Patti Smith songs (with the exception of the one co-written by Bruce) are the ones where she sounds like the kind of insane, rambling lunatic you might meet in the street and give all your change to just to make her go away. This is a prime example.

4. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - I'm The Urban Spaceman

Ah, those wacky 60s. Prepare yourself for the twist ending!

And, just for Dave... The Cud cover version. Which is better than I remembered.

3. Harry Nilsson - Spaceman

Now that I am a spaceman, nobody cares about me.

In many ways, that's the tragic story of Harry Nilsson's life right there. Maybe that's why I'm such a fan...

2. The All-Seeing I featuring Phil Oakey - First Man In Space

Not only has it got Phil Oakey on vocals - it's got Jarvis Cocker on lyrics! Sheffield's finest musical sons (well, two of them), together at last.

Darling, come quick - I can see our house from here!

1. Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentleman, We Are Floating In Space

Perhaps not an obvious choice for Number One on this particular Top Ten (though it was inevitable it'd turn up somewhere on my trip)... until you remember that the man behind Spiritualized is called J. Spaceman. After that: it's perfect.



As I said, next week is Astronaut Songs. But first - which musical Spaceman would you want to be trapped in a capsule with?

Top Ten Venus Songs

Hey, I never said my journey into outer space was going to take me in a straight line. From Mars, we slingshot back round Earth to our other nearest neighbour, the one a little closer to the sun. Things are hotting up, although the Venus we'll be hearing about through most of this list is a hot, heavenly goddess rather than a big blue rock surrounded by carbon dioxide and sulphuric acid...

10. Low - Venus

A wonderfully relaxing slice of slowcore Mormon rock about a girl who's fed up with everything, from her friends to her make-up. One for the chill-out tent...

9. Bjork - Venus As A Boy

A lorry. A hatter. A box of frogs. Bjork.

8. Mark Wynter - Venus In Blue Jeans

An actor who became a pop star. A Eurovision loser. A cheesy 60's crooner. Why am I so much more forgiving of Mark Wynter than I would be his 21st Century counterparts?

7. Television - Venus

I fell right into the Arms of Venus de Milo.

As rock 'n' roll jokes go, this one always makes me smile.

6. Frankie Avalon - Venus

While Sam Cooke pleaded with Cupid to draw back his bow, Frankie Avalon sent his romantic prayers straight to the Roman goddess of love. Did either answer?

5. Prefab Sprout - Venus of the Soup Kitchen

The song that gave From Langley Park to Memphis its title. So beautiful it makes me want to cry.

4. The Scaremongers - From The Shorelines of Venus

The epic closing track from my local poet laureate's debut (and to date, sadly, only) album, this finds Simon Armitage, his mate and his missus, crafting lyrical images that would make Morrissey green with envy. If you don't own this record, do yourself a favour...

At the height of the season
In a laughable blouse
Came in a suitcase and laughed at my house

3. Half Man Half Biscuit - Venus In Flares

A million housewives every day, pick up a can of beans and say
“What an amazing example of synchronisation”

...begins Nigel Blackwell's ode to our #2 record. It ends in even more outrageous fashion...

Well, The Grand Old Duke Of York
Well, he had ten thousand men
And he marched them up to the top of the hill
And he had them all again

2. The Velvet Undergound - Venus In Furs

Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather...

It's about S&M. All the best songs are.

1. Shocking Blue - Venus

Or, if you insist, this version... because I'm a child of the 80s; I'm not proud. (Plus, the video looks like Meat Loaf might stroll in at any second.)



Those were my Venus votes... but which is your goddess on the mountain top?

Top Ten Mars Songs

Our next stop on my musical journey into space is Earth's closest neighbour, the red planet. Watch out for little green men... and the God of War.

10. The Boss Martians featuring Iggy Pop - Mars Is For Martians

'Nuff said.

9. Grinderman - Honey Bee (Let's Fly To Mars)

So that's what happened to all the bees - Nick Cave took 'em to Mars! One of the less obscene Grinderman records.

8. The Flaming Lips - Take Meta Mars

Somebody please take Wayne Coyne to Mars before he puts anymore heads in jars. Taken from the album In a Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine Stares), this was allegedly inspired by the Can song Mushroom. Or maybe just some mushrooms.

7. The Wedding Present - Mars Sparkles Down On Me

There's a new Wedding Present album out, in case you haven't heard. This is from their last one. Both are brilliant.

6. T. Rex - Ballrooms of Mars

Bob Dylan knows
And I bet Alan Freed did
There are things in night
That are better not to behold

5. The Undertones - Mars Bar

OK, so it might not be the planet... but it does help Feargal work, rest and play. And it's a perfect reminder of how supremely ACE The Undertones were.

4. Jeff Wayne - The Eve of the War

No one would have believed the top comment on youtube for this song...

I will play this on 21st December, 2012.

WHO WILL JOIN ME?

TOGETHER, LET US USHER IN THE APOCALYPSE.

No, dude, but I'll play it on the 22nd in your honour.

3. Ash - Girl From Mars

And she never told him her name...

2. David Bowie - Life On Mars?

Look, it may be a godawful small affair, but Bowie's already had one Number One on this journey and I very much doubt it's the last we'll hear from him. Let's give someone else a chance at the top position...

1. John Grant - Marz

John Grant's spelling might need a little work, but his songwriting is out of this world.

Golden champagne juicy grapefruit lucky Monday
High school footall hot fudge buffalo tulip sundae
Almond caramel frappe pineapple rootbeer
Black and white pennyapple Henry Ford sweetheart maple tea

So. Those were my favourite Martians... what are yours?

Top Ten Man On The Moon Songs

OK, let's get back into space after last week's unrelated diversion... and where's the first stop on our journey?

There are far too many songs about the big blue cheese button to narrow down a Top Ten Moon Songs... so instead, here's 10 solely about taking a trip there.

10. Radiohead - Sail to the Moon (Brush the Cobwebs Out of the Sky.)

See, I might consider that bracketed subtitle pretentious... had Thom Yorke not stolen it from Bagpuss.

9. Super Furry Animals - Colonise The Moon

I vomited throughout your saxophone solo, sings Gruff Rhys, to whom I'm not sure. It's enough to make him want to leave the planet and set up his home Space 1999 style on Moonbase Alpha.

8. Love & Rockets - Holiday On The Moon

You can't get a suntan on the moon, reckon the band named after the comic.

7. Grinderman - Man In The Moon

Nick Cave's daddy was an astronaut. Now he's living on the moon...

6. Drive-By Truckers - Puttin' People on the Moon

The Truckers sing the working man's blues: while they're struggling to scrape by, another joker in the White House is puttin' people on the moon.

5. Eels - Climbing To The Moon

Got a sky that looks like heaven
Got an earth that looks like shit
It's getting hard to tell where
What I am ends
And what they're making me begins

No wonder E's got his foot on the ladder...

4. The Police - Walking On The Moon

I believe giant steps are in order.

3. ELO - Ticket To The Moon

Remember the good old 1980s?
When things were so uncomplicated?
I wish I could go back there again
And everything could be the same.

2. Frank Sinatra - Fly Me To The Moon

What's Spring like on Jupiter and Mars? Patience, Frank, we'll get to that in coming weeks.

1. REM - Man On The Moon

Oh, look, I found a version where Stipey duets with Bruce. That'll do nicely.



Got a favourite Man On The Moon song? Don't be shy about it...

Top Ten Countdown Songs

So - I've got my spaceship, I'm ready to leave earth behind... this is my countdown to lift off.

10. The Tempos - Countdown, Here I Come

Just like a guided missile
My love is heading for you, baby
Like a dog when he hears a whistle
My love is heading for you, baby

They don't write 'em like this anymore. A genuine Northern Soul classic.

9. Weezer - Blast Off!

Jumping the gun rather at number 8, Weezer are already igniting their thrusters. Not sure this is the official video, but it features a robot playing keyboards with tumble-dryer pipe arms, so that's good enough for me.

8. The Black Keys - Countdown

The Black Keys can be forgiven for counting UP rather than down because this track rocks so very much. So very much, I doubt our astronauts would want to leave the launch pad.

7. The Dandy Warhols - Mission Control

From 'Earth To The Dandy Warhols'... naturally.

6. Adam Ant - Apollo 9

This almost made it onto last week's list of Spaceship Songs, but fits here just as well as it begins with a funky countdown.

We will be fine
Apollo 9
Even though
NASA say
We out of line

5. Jupiter One - Countdown

A band I know very little about other than that they countdown to a tight sound.

4. Manfred Mann - 5 4 3 2 1

Paul Jones plays a mean harmonica.

3. Europe - The Final Countdown

Inevitabubble.

2. Pulp - Countdown

A song about sitting on the launch pad, waiting for your life to lift off. We've all been there... some of us still are.

The time, of my life,
oh I think you came too soon,
Yeah you came too soon then,
Oh and it could, it could be tonight,
if I ever leave this room,
(I never leave this room no)
Oh I wasted all my time on all those stupid things that only get me down,
Get down, oh.

1. David Bowie - Space Oddity

Take your protein pills
And put your helmet on...

We've got a long journey ahead of us into musical space... I doubt this is the last we'll hear of Mr. Bowie.



Got a favourite countdown song? Share it with the class.

Top Ten Spaceship Songs

My musical exploration of space continues.

You may be wondering how I'm planning on getting up into the stars? Here's ten modes of interstellar transportation I considered...

10. The Rezillos - Flying Saucer Attack

Laser beams and gamma projectors
There'll be nothing on earth to protect us
When they arrive out of the sky
They'll be frying us alive

I think I'll wait for the next bus.

9. Def Leppard - Rocket

Oh, come on, you know you don't mean that. It's only Def Leppard. Calm down. Who wouldn't want to go into space with poodle-rockers from Sheffield and a one-armed drummer?

8. Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

They started out as a Jefferson Airplane, but that wasn't going to be Slick enough to get them into space. Becoming a Starship rocketed them to the top of the charts.

Heh. DJ puns. They could have been my life.

7. The Wedding Present - Flying Saucer

Dave Gedge has been collecting rusty old spacecraft for years. He also has a Rocket (though sadly you can't hear that on youtube).

6. Suicide - Rocket USA

If flying saucers ever did invade earth, this would be the perfect song to accompany their otherworldly attack. Deeply unsettling, even though it's actually got very little to do with space travel.

5. Peter Parker - Swallow The Rockets

The name of this band is Peter Parker. 'Nuff said.

If I had to go into space, I'd want Peter Parker as my co-pilot. Obviously.

4. Julian Cope - Spacehopper

Julian Cope may well be singing about the orange children's toy with hang-on ears... but I like to picture him riding through space on said item. Kind of like the Silver Surfer... but cooler.

3. Billy Bragg - My Flying Saucer

Care of Woody Guthrie, a sad little song about getting deserted by the mothership. Just like ET. Billy Bragg phone home.

2. Elbow - Lippy Kids

The "title" track from 'Build A Rocket, Boys!'

1. The Kinks - Supersonic Rocket Ship

On my supersonic rocket ship
Nobody has to be hip
Nobody needs to be out of sight. Out of sight.
Nobody's gonna travel second class
There'll be equality
And no suppression of minorities. Well alright.
We'll take this planet, shake it round
And turn it upside down.
My supersonic rocket ship.

Ray Davies: astronaut of pop genius.



So, that's my transportation sorted. If you had to go into space on a musical ship... which would you choose?

Top Twenty Earth Songs

For the next few weeks (or until I grow bored of it), I've planned a musical trip into outer space. And where better to start than home?

Naturally, there are more songs about Earth than any other planet in our Solar System... so here's twenty of my favourites...

20. Placebo - Allergic (To Thoughts of Mother Earth)

If Placebo were starting out now, I probably wouldn't buy their records. Right place, right time.

19. Meat Loaf - Peace On Earth

Meat doesn't want peace on Earth. He just wants to go home.

18. Imogen Heap - Earth

Put that down and clean this mess up
End of conversation
Put your back in it and
Make it up to me now

Whatever you say, love.

17. Curiosity Killed The Cat - Down To Earth

I enjoy this now more than I did at the time, but Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot's hat is still very silly.

16. Prefab Sprout - Earth: The Story So Far

I was so looking forward to this long-unreleased Prefab Sprout album (Lets Change The World With Music) that when it finally arrived, disappointment was perhaps inevitable. Although Paddy's voice is still angelic, the instrumentation mostly sounds like it was recorded in his bedroom on a Bontempi. He just about gets away with it.

15. Green Day - Last Night On Earth

I quite like the fact that Green Day have written a musical. It's the ultimate one finger salute to all those former fans who've been screaming "sell-out" to them for years. This was never a band you should take seriously.

14. Duran Duran - Planet Earth

Yes, I know. I know. But you'd have been disappointed if I hadn't included it somewhere.

13. The Sundays - On Earth

The Sundays are a band that always make me feel younger. They remind me of a certain time. Ironically, a time when I wasn't actually listening to any of their records. But I should have been.

12. The Divine Comedy - Life On Earth

Too good for youtube, apparently. Shame.

11. Gay Dad - To Earth With Love

For about 5 minutes one Wednesday in January, 1999, Gay Dad were the next big thing. And then, like that, they were gone.

10. George Harrison - Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)

Forever the coolest Beatle.

9. Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move

See also Martika, obviously.

8. Graham Coxon - People of the Earth

People of the earth, your world is crap
You ain't even on the universe map
People of the earth, you do not rock
You are nothing but a fluffy flock
People of the earth, you have failed
You still worship The Sun and The Daily Mail

7. Neil Young - Falling Off The Face Of The Earth

For a cranky old bugger, Neil don't half make some beautiful records.

6. PJ Harvey - The Colour Of The Earth

A cool a capella rendition (followed by the full album version) of one of the stand out tracks from Polly Jean's second Mercury Prize winner.

5. Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth

It was about time someone judged Belinda's biggest hit worthy of a reassessment in cool. Thanks to Lana Del Rey then for paying homage on Video Games.

4. Sparks - Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth

Never turn your back on Ron & Russell Mael. Or on the excellent Niko Case cover.

3. Strangelove - The Greatest Show On Earth

Many of the Britpop era bands that slipped through the cracks were a damned sight more interesting than the ones that bothered the Top Ten. Patrick Duff's Strangelove deserved stardom far more than Oasis.

2. The Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth

Another band I sometimes think I've left behind... but they're better than history remembers them.

I never thought you'd be a junkie because heroin is so passé...

1. The Penguins / The Crew Cuts / Death Cab For Cutie et al... and, of course, Marvin Berry & The Starlighters - Earth Angel

C'mon man, let's do something that really cooks...

So. Those were my favourite Earth songs. Now tell me yours.

Points deducted for anyone who mentions the one I left out on purpose...