"O Superman" by Laurie Anderson

Reranked Position: #3

Last updated: March 09, 2014

Appearances

• All-Time 1989: #96

Massive fangirl of Laurie Anderson over here - you can blame my time at The University of Adelaide for that one. Seriously, Laurie Anderson is one of THE GREATS of experimental music and is worthy of the word artist.

O Superman is a beautiful and angelic piece that requires multiple listens to really appreciate the depth that comes with the lyrics, the vocoder, the vocal layering, the synths... I could go on and on. O Superman is incidentally the piece I would recommend people who don't listen to experimental music to start with when it comes to Laurie Anderson's work.

Reranking this was actually really difficult for me. I adore O Superman. At the same time though, it's not catchy in the same way that The Cicada (That At Five Dock) is, but is just as artistic as The Mercy Seat, albeit in very different ways. In the end, I have gone with O Superman at #2 - it's a brilliant work of art, but sometimes you want something that's a bit more catchy.