My Top 1000 Songs #325: Bittersweet

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

My arrival at the college radio station in 1984, and my deep dive into the indie music scene, was all about the jangle. And while most of the bands I immediately gravitated towards were American--R.E.M. and, later, the Connells, Winter Hours, Love Tractor, Guadalcanal Diary, the Reivers, etc.--one of the songs I most closely associate with that time in my life was "Bittersweet," from Australia's Hoodoo Gurus. 

The opening cut from their 1985 sophomore LP Mars Needs Guitars is one of those genre-defining songs that, in its 3:44 runtime, pretty much nails jangle pop, nothing more needing to be said--a slow-burning Byrdsy intro, a simple but compelling verse, a harmony-rich chorus to die for, a rousing bridge... and through it all that tell-tale chiming guitar sound.

Is there a more 1985 song than this? Yeah, probably, but when it's playing, I can't help feeling it's the one.

Then & now? Live, just a couple months ago!

Courtney Love & Hole, live in Australia in 1999, pull out an unexpected cover...