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Neutral Milk Hotel: "Holland, 1945" [Listen]
This distorted, horn-heavy blitz -- the only single released by Jeff Mangum's short-lived, much-loved outfit -- sounds like a mariachi band mingling with Fugazi at a NASCAR speedway. "It's a great little scuzzy beauty," says Followill.
New Order "Thieves Like Us" [Listen]
This 1984 New Wave hit, named after the 1974 Robert Altman film, has an atmospheric cool: "If you walk into a bar and this song comes on, you feel like you're in a slow-motion scene in a movie."
Cocteau Twins "Lorelei" [Listen]
"They sound really sexy," Followill says of this 1984 cut from the Twins' third album, Treasure, in which Elizabeth Fraser's vocals playfully wrestle Robin Guthrie's guitar for top billing.
Bauhaus "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" [Listen]
"I like the quirky lyrics," he says of the goth rockers' plucky 1982 track. "And the melody is inspirational."
Roger Miller "Little Green Apples" [Listen]
The singer best known for "King of the Road" imagines a world with no "Dr. Seuss, Disneyland and Mother Goose." "The lyrics make me want to cry," says Followill.