My Favorite 100 Songs

[Benny Profane]

You're talking to someone who likes "My Humps", so I really don't know that you are going to get through to me.

OK, but I'd be ashamed if I didn't at least try.

[Spinal]

68.


Song: "Secret Heart"
Artist: Feist
Album: Let it Die
Year: 2004

Feisty video.

The magic of Leslie Feist is not just in how she writes and how she sings, but also how she crafts a song. Therefore, it worries me none to select a cover song to represent her here. I greatly admire how she approaches each performance as if she is going to give the song a real working over. It makes for an exhilarating live show and no doubt keeps her invested as well. Her voice as she reaches for those high notes is pure bliss.

[Thirdmango]

I now want to do a top 100 songs list, though I must say, at the rate this is going, not a one will be the same.

[Spinal]

67.


Song: "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
Artist: Yes
Album: 90125
Year: 1983

See a cat dropped on a man's face!

After a quick drum fill, the killer riff kicks in and we are off on one of the most distinctive rock songs of the early MTV era. The lyrics encourage the listener to 'give your free will a chance' while intermittent crashes disrupt the song's flow, underscoring the song's plea for non-conformity. It doesn't hurt that the song was given a delightfully kooky Kafkaesque video that takes advantage of all the wails, changes of direction and other various aural eccentricities.

[dreamdead]

93.
Song: "One"
Artist: Metallica

[/QUOTE]

I salute this choice and FNM's "Epic" especially; I figure plenty of others will salute the other tracks.

[Sven]

Song: "Owner of a Lonely Heart"

Eeeeexcellent

[Lasse]

So far I like or love most of the songs on this list. I can't wait for the rest!

[Spinal]

66.


Song: "Winter"
Artist: Tori Amos
Album: Little Earthquakes
Year: 1992

Ivory video.

I have a few Tori Amos CDs lying around the house that don't get a lot of attention these days. However, I don't think I could ever turn my back on this potent tearjerker from her first album. The lyrics are refreshingly free of much of the patented Tori Amos fairyspeak that can eventually grow tiresome. Instead, Amos delivers a devastating portrait of fatherly love that is as pure as the snow referenced in the song's first line. Man, that chorus gets me every time.

[Benny Profane]

Like that song (Winter).

But the twirly dance in that video I do not like.

[dreamdead]

I loves me some "China" off of that album. This just encouraged me to play the album later today while working on some projects.

[Spinal]

65.


Song: "Sure Shot"
Artist: The Beastie Boys
Album: Ill Communication
Year: 1994

The song performed by Richard Scarry characters.
The original.

The world may have to wait for another great pop song that references Rod Carew. Fortunately, this ultra-fun track with its irresistible flute sample will do just fine in the meantime. I'm not sure that having the doo-doo guaranteed like Yoo Hoo is something to be bragging about, but you gotta appreciate MCA offering all the mother and the sisters his respect to the end.

[Spinal]

Like that song (Winter).

But the twirly dance in that video I do not like.

I cannot defend it.

[Spinal]

64.


Song: "Everyday"
Artist: Buddy Holly
Album: Buddy Holly
Year: 1958

Woo-ee-oo, he looks just like Rivers Cuomo.

Oh, for a time when a male pop star could wear glasses like that unironically and still get the ladies. Golden moments from this super-sweet love song are aplenty, particularly all the glottal stops on the 'hey hey heys'. My personal favorite is the rhyming of "it's a-gettin' faster" with "go ahead and ask her."

[Spinal]

63.


Song: "Outside of Town"
Artist: The Geraldine Fibbers
Album: Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home
Year: 1995

Jammin' video. (Song starts at about 1:16)

I'm not sure if the electricity of this bluesy murder ballad will come across completely on the video provided above. Too much attention is paid to the lead guitar player and not enough to the chilling delivery of the band's key artist, Carla Bozulich. Still, I never pass up an opportunity to try to convert people to these extraordinary musicians that during their short existence blended country and punk into a rich, thoroughly satisfying wallop. Bozulich has a gift for taking the dark sound of early American blues and giving it a post-feminist facelift.

[Horbgorbler]

Buddy Holly was the shiznit; that's likely my favorite of his songs, as well.

[berlin wallflower]

Great idea. I'd like to do a list like this...

Props for the Cat Power song.

[rocus]

Great job so far, there are many that I would agree with (including the rap selections). For Faith No More, I like Epic but prefer Falling To Pieces.

Chuck D is by far the best rapper of all time. It's not even close.

[Spinal]

62.


Song: "Always on My Mind"
Artist: Willie Nelson
Album: Always on My Mind
Year: 1982

Grizzled video.

Although there have been notable recordings of this song by Brenda Lee, Elvis Presley and The Pet Shop Boys, it is Willie Nelson version that moves me most. Nelson nails the sense of regret underlying the lyrics and gives the listener the impression of a guy who just picked up a guitar and is trying earnestly to work himself out of a jam. Nelson's gentle vocals are the right match for this simple, yet stirring tune.

[Spinal]

For Faith No More, I like Epic but prefer Falling To Pieces.

Great, great song. It was given serious consideration.

[rocus]

Fantastic choice. Willie's vocals on that song are just perfect.

[Spinal]

61.


Song: "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground"
Artist: The White Stripes
Album: White Blood Cells
Year: 2001

Red, white and black video.

So much wonderful noise erupting from only two band members. Jack and Meg White tend to strip away all the excess and just focus on delivering straightforward R.O.C.K. in the USA. No one is ever going to say: Hey, aren't those the guys who wrote Paranoid Android? They've got loads of great stuff to choose from, but this little piece of thunder is tops for me.

[Sven]

There are days when I think the Stripes rival even Zep. Incidentally, those days are also days I usually get slammed in the head with a blunt object. Nevertheless, those days exist. Love the Stripes. LOVE em! Jack is the king of guitar riffs. Favorite song: maybe Screwdriver, maybe Little Bird, maybe Icky Thump, maybe Ball and Biscuit.

[Lasse]

I don't know why I've never listened to an entire White Stripes record. I've pretty much loved every song I've heard.

The recent "You Don't Know What Love Is" is one of the most played songs on my mp3-player the last 6 months.

[Spinal]

60.


Song: "My Style"
Artist: The Black Eyed Peas
Album: Monkey Business
Year: 2005

Dance dance video.

I really like the way this song builds. From the repetition of the phrase, "Lord, have mercy", to the slick beats and then that snake charmer riff before finally all clicking together on the first chorus. The boy-girl interplay brings out what is possibly the Peas' most notable trait, their sexy, flirty chemistry. A trifle? Perhaps, but also a real booty shaker and probably the greatest song of all time which employs the word 'cock-block'.

[Lasse]

I have a hard time hating the Black Eyed Peas. Such fun, silly music - though I must say that I hardly ever listen to their music when I'm sober. :lol: