Frank Black and the Catholics, "I Gotta Move"
A thing I admire about Frank Black is that his songs always sound so distinctly like him. Whether with the Pixies, as a solo act, with the Catholics or whatever, he always sounds like Frank Black. It's not just the voice, either, it's his guitar, how he constructs songs, everything. His records might vary in quality and inspiration, but they always sound like they came from him.
The Jam, "Girl on the Phone"
There are some bands out there that I always enjoy more than I expect to. That goes for the first time I encounter them and sometimes later. The Jam fall into that category for me. I like them a lot! Yet every time they come up, either because I went and played a record or it comes up on shuffle, I always come away thinking "that was great!" Better than I expected. It's kind of magical. Or maybe I'm really thick.
No, definitely the magical thing.
Big Black, "Bad Penny"
I feel like I've told the story before, but I'll be damned if I'm going to check. A friend of mine got Atomizer for his birthday while we were in high school, and neither of us were entirely sure what to make of it. But he was later bumming around a record store and found Songs About Fucking available and purchased entirely because he thought it would annoy his parents to see it lying around. Well, lo and behold, it brought around a re-evaluation of Big Black for us, and it was another step in me figuring out I liked really obnoxious stuff. So, while the title (and cover) are pure edgelord shit, it did work on teenage Josh.
RJD2, "Milk Tooth"
After moving to his own label, RJD2's music took another turn. He'd always kind of explored different styles, but going out on his own let him really open things up. And what mostly happened is that there's a...bounciness? to things since then. There's a kind of joyful sincerity to the records that is super appealing to me. So, while I'll never say a bad word about Dead Ringer or anything, his records from The Colossus on are my favorite work from him.
Sicko, "Window of Opportunity"
I've gone on and on about how much I love Sicko, so I'll spare you all that again and just say: wooooo!