A request from the Swedish indie fanzine, “Ettnollett”, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary.

Most fanzines I’ve been aware of barely make it to twenty months of existence. Twenty years demands some sort of applause.

They want me to name my five favourite songs of the past two decades, for their anniversary issue. A difficult task indeed, so I decide to whittle down my short-list by removing any proper pop songs (e.g. Swing Out Sister, Kylie Minogue, Take That) and keep my selection restricted to fanzine-friendly indie-pop. Even then it takes me a while before I decide on the following:

Morrissey “Girl Least Likely To”
The Pastels “Comin’ Thru”
Galaxie 500 “Strange”
McCarthy “Keep An Open Mind Or Else”
Scarlet’s Well “The Return Of The Hesperus”

The last choice sounds gruesomely biased, but it is genuinely my favourite Bid tune of the past 20 years, pipping “Jacob’s Ladder”, “Reach For Your Gun”, “Up” and “I Love Lambeth” at the post.