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20. Build That Wall (1999)
Aimee Mann has had hits and acclaim from critics and her peers, but the sense that she’s slightly undervalued still clings. A song as deceptive as Build That Wall might explain why: on the surface it seems straightforward and easy-on-the-ear, but beneath its mellow, mellifluous surface lurk stinging lyrics and real emotional force.
19. ’Til Tuesday – (Believed You Were) Lucky (1988)
A song Mann and bandmate Jules Shear co-created about their collapsed romantic relationship, though with Mann handling the lyrics alone. (Believed You Were) Lucky couches its regret – which curdles into something sharper in the sweary final chorus – in a lush arrangement and autumnal pop melody.
18. Stupid Thing (1993)
Mann’s solo debut, Whatever, was also a first production gig for Jon Brion, later to become famed for his work with everyone from Fiona Apple to Frank Ocean. You can hear his influence in the thick blanket of organ that opens Stupid Thing, a marvellously weary dismissal of an ex.
17. Labrador (2012)
Not everything on the bright-hued, pop-facing Charmer – an album heavy on synth and jangling guitar – is great: its mid-tempo pace can make the songs seem samey. But when it works, it really works. Labrador is funny but fatalistic, a masterclass in compact, unflashy but hugely affecting songwriting.
16. You Don’t Have the Room (2021)
Initially intended for a musical version of Susanna Kaysen’s memoir (and subsequent movie) Girl, Interrupted, which was abandoned when Covid hit, the Queens of the Summer Hotel album had Mann dealing in contemplative songs with lush orchestration. Here, the lyrics are bitter, the melody is exquisite.
15. Video (2005)
A concept album about an alcoholic boxer returning to the US from the Vietnam war, The Forgotten Arm was audibly recorded live, and its songs work perfectly when isolated from the overarching concept. You don’t need to know the story to fall for the sad sigh of Video, its melancholy amplified by the watery-sounding guitars.
14. ’Til Tuesday – The Other End (of the Telescope) (1988)
Mann collaborated with Elvis Costello for The Other End (of the Telescope), a pairing that makes perfect sense: both have a spiky, cynical vein to their writing. Mann came up with the waltz-time music, Costello the lyrics: both recorded versions, although the lusher ’Til Tuesday take might edge it.
13. Stuck in the Past (2017)
The “saddest, slowest, most acoustic” of Mann’s albums, Mental Illness is also among the most beautiful, and Stuck in the Past sums up its charms: a simple but lovely song, subtly arranged, which breezes by so sweetly that you scarcely notice how downcast and regretful its lyrics are.
12. Wise Up (1999)
Written for Jerry Maguire – it appeared on the soundtrack album despite being cut from the film – Wise Up found its perfect cinematic home in a singalong scene in Magnolia. Its fatalistic lyrics crash against its wonderful arrangement: orchestral and lush, even epic, at least by Mann standards.
11. I’ve Had It (1993)
Presumably informed by ’Til Tuesday’s demise – memories of the excitement of starting a band contrasting with later disillusionment – I’ve Had It is all about pared-back subtlety (check the understated musical Springsteen reference), focusing attention on Mann’s fabulously careworn vocal. What an enchanting song.
10. Choice in the Matter (1995)
I’m With Stupid, her second solo album, was something of a bid for a broader audience, featuring moments inspired by Beck, but Choice in the Matter is straight-ahead distorted guitar alt-rock. No matter: melodies this effortless-sounding don’t need much in the way of voguish sonic trickery. Its failure to become a hit single is baffling.
9. It’s Not (2002)
A depiction of depression that scrupulously avoids the standard rock pitfalls of overdramatising or perversely glamorising the subject, instead portraying inner torment in strikingly mundane terms: like a TV broadcast that’s been interrupted, like being unable to press a car’s accelerator when the lights change. Fabulous melody, too.
8. ’Til Tuesday – Voices Carry (1985)
Her old band ’Til Tuesday’s commercial breakthrough remains Mann’s biggest hit, going Top 10 in the US. Its booming sound is so redolent of its era that it’s gone past dated and become nostalgically charming, but there’s a smart, pointed song bristling away beneath the mid-80s gloss.
7. Suicide Is Murder (2021)
The bleak heart of Queens of the Summer Hotel, Suicide is Murder marries a classic early 70s singer-songwriter sound to a lyric that’s flinty, cynical and utterly compelling, grabbing you from its opening line: “Picture yourself there in the snow, turning blue – get used to that being you.”
6. Driving Sideways (1999)
Plucked from demos for Mann’s third album, Bachelor No 2, and debuted on the Magnolia soundtrack, Driving Sideways seems informed by Largo, the west Hollywood club where she developed the album’s material. There’s a relaxed, late-night-at-the-bar feel to its mood, and the perfect chorus defies an audience not to join in.
5. That’s Just What You Are (1994)
Another should-have-been-a-hit, That’s Just What You Are conceals simmering venom beneath a loping breakbeat, shimmering guitars, breezy tune and gorgeous harmonies by Squeeze’s Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook: “You’re like a sleepwalking man, it’s a danger to wake you / Even when it’s apparent where your actions will take you.”
4. Goose Snow Cone (2017)
A latter-day Mann classic, a sweet acoustic meditation on homesickness, inspired by seeing a photo of a friend’s cat while on tour. Warning: avoid the video – which involves a sick pet, visits to the vet etc – if you’re feeling emotionally fragile (try Mann’s stark performance of the track on Later instead).
3. 4th of July (1993)
The album cover of Whatever may have depicted Mann as Doc Marten-clad and grunge-adjacent, but its contents told a different story. This was the slow-burning sound of a mature, considered, masterful songwriter, apparently uninterested in passing fashion: why would she be, when she could write songs as good as this?
2. Red Vines (2000)
For Bachelor No 2, Mann took control, placing herself in charge of everything from production to release. Its contents, and sales, offered vindication: if Red Vines’ lyrics sound battered by her music industry experience (“I’ll be on the sidelines, with my hands tied”), the surefootedness of the song speaks of new confidence.
1. Save Me (1999)
Director Paul Thomas Anderson compared Mann’s musical contributions to his film Magnolia to Simon and Garfunkel’s songs for The Graduate. He’s right, in that, like Mrs Robinson et al, Mann’s songs were integral to the film, but took on their own life thereafter. You certainly don’t need to know Magnolia to love the Oscar-nominated Save Me, which perfectly encapsulates Mann’s songwriting. Beautiful but low-key, its gentle arrangement – pattering percussion, sweetly wheezing accordion – has huge emotional impact: a sucker-punch delivered in cashmere gloves. Its subject, former boyfriend Dave Foley, noted with relief that he was her only ex “Aimee’s ever written a positive song about”.
