The Jukebox: Animals

Welcome to The Jukebox, your Friday fix of the best music new and old. Each week, a six-strong panel of Hercules Moments contributors will recommend their favourite tracks for you to soundtrack your weekend to, in a playlist centred around a chosen theme.

This week... ANIMALS


Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - God Is In The House



This song grabbed me by the throat when I first heard it, on second listening it was the lyrics that really made the connection. This is Nick Cave at his best in a piano ballad about a picturesque God-fearing Christian town where everything is so perfect and beautiful it's hard to stomach, and for that reason the place could well be the ugliest thing known to man.

The lyrics read like one of life's greatest poems, the piano tinkles nicely and it features one of Warren Ellis' most beautiful violin solos. Nick Cave uses religious imagery, but the way he uses animals as a metaphor is inspired in the final verse, like a gospel hymn.
Tim Courtney

The Cure - Lovecats


This has an awesome snappy rhythm and lively movement to it. It's entertaining, funky and fresh, and the lyrics are (as is typical of The Cure) wacky yet brilliant. I adore this band, and this song is one of their best!
Emma Wright

Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything


This is one of my favourite songs because of its enigmatic mix of styles, since it could be defined as a melodic song with semi-electro effects, extremely unique in its kind . Full of energy and vitality, the lyrics are intense and delicate, desperate and soft "If I could take the fire out from the water
I'd take you where nobody knows you - Your blood, your bones, your voice".
Laura Tradii

Minus The Bear - Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo


Minus the Bear are an American indie rock band formed in 2001 with a mixture of musicians from bands such as Botch and Kill Sadie. This song is taken from their album Highly Refined Pirates. It's an enjoyable, bouncy song with the occasional odd time change. Yet it's also smooth with fun filled, 'Pele-esque' tapping guitars mixed with the sounds of electronics.
Beth Alexander

Bat For Lashes - Horse and I



I chose this song because it's one of those album openers that just grabbed me. The haunting vocals, the harpsichord and drums driven tune, and the lyrics combine to create something that sounds more epic than it really is. It's a very simple, yet very big, song.
Lesley Dickson

The Rolling Stones - Monkey Man


One of the Stones’s finest moments in my opinion. The penultimate track of Let It Bleed has everything you want from a Stones song: cool piano, funky drumming, yelping vocals from Jagger and one of Keef’s catchiest riffs. Pure class.
James MacKinnon

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