Scott Walker - Bolivia '95
Not necessarily the weirdest song you'll hear from the man (and, looking back, maybe there were one or two others I could've submitted instead), as it's a lot more melodic (if very subtly) than other songs he's recorded. I think it fits with the comp though because a) like a lot of Walker's later work, it requires your full concentration to properly enjoy it, b) you could spend hours trying to wrap your head around the cryptic lyrics and figure out what's it's on about and c) it's an art song in one of the oldest English musical traditions, this particular tradition dating back some 500-odd years. Also, you wouldn't exactly hear it on Radio 1 eh
Public Image Ltd - Francis Massacre
Any song on Flowers Of Romance could just as easily have fitted this compilation, as it's possibly the most forward-thinking album PIL ever did. Metal Box pushed the boundaries of rock music to breaking point whereas the followup, Flowers Of Romance, tries to sort of break through into a new, post-rock territory as an album. At least that's what I get from it. Anyway, this song is that manifesto in a nutshell. As such, there's absolutely nothing resembling the conventional rock song structure - the rhythm sounds like some kind of avalanche in the studio, the keyboards have a very free jazz kinda vibe to them, there's no bass or guitar, there are all sorts of strange overdubs and synth effects and John Lydon just yells the same two lines over and over. It's one of those songs that, at least with me, just grabs the listener and never lets go, and is certainly a snug fit with this theme.