Bucks Night

Alright mates, this is it — quite possibly the most outrageous night (or long weekend, if you've got the stamina for it) of your lives so far. Part bonding experience, part send-off, part . . . well, there are parts that we can't really talk about here. But we can say this: lame tunes will make for a lame occasion, which is why we've lined up the soundtrack to a classic bucks' night with Rose Tattoo's rock-shocked "Bad Boy for Love," Skyhooks' glam-rocking homage to "Women in Uniform," INXS' timeless chugger "Need You Tonight," and Steppenwolf's full-on throttle-twister, "Born to Be Wild."

Your bucks' night is a runaway train, driven by the Strokes and the Libertines . . . in Next Steps.

You've downed our opening shots . . . and quite honestly, you're all looking remarkably good, except for the green-gilled fella nobody remembers inviting — there's always one — who's gone off a little too soon, and is shaping up to be the first casualty of the night. Now, troopers, it's time to pick up the pace with the Libertines ("Don't Look Back Into the Sun"), Nirvana ("Smells Like Teen Spirit"), and the Strokes ("Last Nite"). 'Course, every bucks' night is a tightrope walk over the abyss of calamity, so you might want to exercise a little strategic caution — hence our inclusion of the Boss ("Born to Run") and Jay-Z ("99 Problems").

Rick James makes sure that your bucks' night is never less than super-freaky, in Deep Cuts.

On bucks' nights, there's a fine line between Daddy Cool and Primal Scream, and the longer your "night" lasts (72 hours is about average these days), the more secure your guarantee of full-blown insanity. But that's the whole point, right? As the train wreck approaches, there's nothing to say you can't have a good old sing-along to "Alright" by Supergrass or "Peaches" by the Stranglers, certain in the knowledge that an evening in the company of girls who have adopted "Super Freak" by Rick James as their personal theme tune can only lead to one place: and that's a place where "Dirty Old Town" plays on a loop.

In the old days, a bucks' night was a pretty straightforward affair: beers at the local, followed by a lock-in, some good-natured ritual humiliation, and a despairing call the next day from a groom who has woken up in . . . a potentially compromising position. These days it's far more complicated. The modern bucks' night has been extended into a long weekend, requiring the services of event planners, travel agents, stylists, personal assistants, and a whole team of public relations experts whose sole job is to cover up your misdemeanours. Maybe we exaggerate a little, but whether you intend to rock your stag night old-school, or lay on a bells 'n' whistles 21st-century extravaganza, this playlist contains all the sounds you're going to require.