1. Middle Man- Living Colour

• "I don't have a need to be the best, don't want to be just like the rest, just stay who I am, just and ordinary middle man. I've got no master plan, just a simple middle man." If you weren't listening to Living Colour in 1988, what were you listening to? "Cult of Personality" hit radio and MTV with a fury that year and the album "Vivid" went on to sell over 2 million copies. If anyone saw the all black heavy metal band as a novelty, they quickly got past that when they realized how talented these guys are. In particular, Vernon Reid is probably as technically proficient as anyone who has ever played hard rock guitar. In other words, anything you can do, he can do better. Musically "Middle Man" is built around a great guitar riff (Angus Young would be proud). Lyrically it's about finding contentment in living an average life. Not everyone is going to change the world. As the band once quipped, not everyone is going to invent a better mousetrap.

2. Company In My Back (live)- Wilco

• "Hide your soft skin, your sorrow is sunshine, listen to my eyes, they are hissing radiator tunes, I move so slow, a steady crushing hand, holy sh*t there's a company in my back." For all the love critics gave "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" it's successor "A Ghost is Born" provided an equally impressive collection of songs. Don't sleep on it. Pitchfork, some website I never heard of until earlier this week, gave "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" a perfect ten stars (why not give 10 pitchforks?) in 2002. This might not sound crazy until you find out they hadn't given another album 10 stars until this year (the new Kanye West album got the honor). Was there nothing in between that good? Getting back to "Company In My Back", this version of comes from the "Kicking Television: Live In Chicago" album. The live version clocks in at the same exact time (3:46) as the studio version- way to keep it tight fellas. Earlier this year I purchased a "1st time on LP" Kicking Television vinyl box set that features a number of songs not included on the original CD. You'll be happy to know that not only have I not opened the records, I haven't even opened the box they were shipped in. "Near mint condition" does not befit a true collector.

3. B Side Wins Again- Public Enemy

• "Here you go y'all, little by little you know, we got the power, the knowledge to move 'em, and still rock, a super song for the cause so, feel the load on your brain for the episode, and we just begun it's number one y'all, brother black the B is back." Where would we be without B sides? Well for one we might not have Rod Stewart (his breakout "Maggie May" was a B side). In the day of the 7 inch vinyl single the B side often gave us a "deep album cut" or a song not even featured on the album the A side sought to promote. In the earliest days of hip-hop, before the advent of MCs and rap records, DJ's made a name for themselves by finding breaks in all sorts of places. To this day DJ's dig through crates to find B sides and obscure records to sample. "B Side Wins Again" finds Chuck D paying homage to the B side and kicking lyrics absent the political focus most often associated with Public Enemy. The sound here is also unique for P.E. Instead of the dense sonic assault P.E.'s Bomb Squad production team made famous we have a basic drum track and an echo effect on the vocal. It's not a stripped down as Run DMC's "Sucker M.C's" but it's not far off. If you have any vinyl singles laying around be sure to dust them off and flip them over.