Top 200 Songs
I've taken a slightly different approach with this list in that, instead of
ranking the songs, I list them here on a level playing field in alphabetical
order. This is mainly to reflect the fact that songs are unusually subjective and changable experiences -- on any given day,
I might prefer one song to another depending on my mood. These songs can be
taken as my 'best picks to date' from years of listening to a wide variety of pop records with
almost obsessive compulsion. My main reason for making this list is to share
that music with people who like me enough to visit my humble little site. I think individual tracks (rather than whole albums) are the best and most accessible way to introduce people to bands and solo artists, which is why I'm not going to be making an album list (not for a while anyway). I should also point out that I don't expect anyone to digest this in one go: it's intended as a sort of general reference point -- maybe take a letter, or even just a song or two a day -- it's more important to listen to the songs than to read my comments: I've designed it so that you can open a tab for each song and listen as you are reading. If just one person goes and gets themselves a copy of American Gothic by David Ackles or for the first time finds a rap song they like, I'll be happy in the knowledge that it's been worth the effort. Of course, as ever, there'll be points of contention too, especially for the music aficionados among you, and I look forward to those.
It should also be noted that these are not
strictly speaking
my Top 200 songs (due to some restrictions) but
they should give you a good indictation of my general tastes. Much more importantly, I hope they will introduce you to some great music that you might not have known about before. When I first set
out to make this list (in March, 08) in a straightforward 'faves first' manner, I quickly
found that a few key artists were dominating the list. Bob Dylan, for example,
had over
40
songs in the top 100 alone! Anyone who is a proper fan of Dylan will
understand me when I say that he is in his own league, especially when it comes
to songs that touch you emotionally -- the reasons why I like most of those
songs are too personal to note here, I wouldn't want anyone reading them.
Besides, I've already done a Dylan list of sorts, so this time I wanted to
reflect my wide ranging listening habits more accurately. These are the
restrictions I have put in place:
1. Bob Dylan is limited to 5 tracks only and, so as not to
repeat material found elsewhere on the site, all songs written by him that appear on his 32 studio albums released to date
are banned. That really narrows the range of Dylan stuff I can draw on to just
singles, bootlegs and covers -- which is still a sizable body of work in
itself, probably more than most artists put out in a lifetime.
2. All other artists are limited to 3 tracks only, except The Beatles, who get
5 ... because they are The Beatles, and The Kinks, who get 4 because I love them.
3. No more than 2 songs from the same album ... unless it's Odyssey & Oracle by The Zombies (yes, I'm making this up as I go along).
As with all my other lists, I'll follow a simple template for each item:
Artist, "Title of Song",
Name of the Album It Appears On,
Year of Release (of the album)
Genre: what type of music it is, here's a bit more info on that
You Tube Link: A link to the best available video of the song on You Tube.
Lyrics: A link to some generic lyrics site, generally the first one off google.
Best Bit: 0.00 -- My favourite bit of the song.
Comment: Why I like the song.
Have fun browsing! Songs are listed alphabetically by the artist's first name;
I've numbered them for my own sake to make sure there's exactly 200. I hope you
come across some stuff you didn't know of before. For me, there are few things
that give me more joy than discovering new music. If you've got any
recommenations or even a similar list, be sure to whip them my way.
Finally, this is probably the right place to give special thanks to my friend and long-time music buddy Andrew. On a tragic day in September, with this list half completed, I got a new PC and, somehow, I managed to set one of my old HDDs on fire! It had over 20,000 songs on it. It is lost, forever! But Andrew very kindly sent me 3 DVDs packed full of stuff -- full of over 3,000 very-hard-to-find songs in fact -- to help recover some of the damage. The lost HDD proved to be a kind of blessing in disguise because he'd put a lot of hidden gems on there that I'd not heard before. If he ever reads this list, he'll no doubt find evidence of his influence all over it -- but I hope that even he might stumble on something he hasn't considered before.
Forward to: Top 200 Songs: A-B
I've taken a slightly different approach with this list in that, instead of ranking the songs, I list them here on a level playing field in alphabetical order. This is mainly to reflect the fact that songs are unusually subjective and changable experiences -- on any given day, I might prefer one song to another depending on my mood. These songs can be taken as my 'best picks to date' from years of listening to a wide variety of pop records with almost obsessive compulsion. My main reason for making this list is to share that music with people who like me enough to visit my humble little site. I think individual tracks (rather than whole albums) are the best and most accessible way to introduce people to bands and solo artists, which is why I'm not going to be making an album list (not for a while anyway). I should also point out that I don't expect anyone to digest this in one go: it's intended as a sort of general reference point -- maybe take a letter, or even just a song or two a day -- it's more important to listen to the songs than to read my comments: I've designed it so that you can open a tab for each song and listen as you are reading. If just one person goes and gets themselves a copy of American Gothic by David Ackles or for the first time finds a rap song they like, I'll be happy in the knowledge that it's been worth the effort. Of course, as ever, there'll be points of contention too, especially for the music aficionados among you, and I look forward to those.
It should also be noted that these are not strictly speaking my Top 200 songs (due to some restrictions) but they should give you a good indictation of my general tastes. Much more importantly, I hope they will introduce you to some great music that you might not have known about before. When I first set out to make this list (in March, 08) in a straightforward 'faves first' manner, I quickly found that a few key artists were dominating the list. Bob Dylan, for example, had over 40 songs in the top 100 alone! Anyone who is a proper fan of Dylan will understand me when I say that he is in his own league, especially when it comes to songs that touch you emotionally -- the reasons why I like most of those songs are too personal to note here, I wouldn't want anyone reading them. Besides, I've already done a Dylan list of sorts, so this time I wanted to reflect my wide ranging listening habits more accurately. These are the restrictions I have put in place:
1. Bob Dylan is limited to 5 tracks only and, so as not to repeat material found elsewhere on the site, all songs written by him that appear on his 32 studio albums released to date are banned. That really narrows the range of Dylan stuff I can draw on to just singles, bootlegs and covers -- which is still a sizable body of work in itself, probably more than most artists put out in a lifetime.
2. All other artists are limited to 3 tracks only, except The Beatles, who get 5 ... because they are The Beatles, and The Kinks, who get 4 because I love them.
3. No more than 2 songs from the same album ... unless it's Odyssey & Oracle by The Zombies (yes, I'm making this up as I go along).
As with all my other lists, I'll follow a simple template for each item:
Artist, "Title of Song", Name of the Album It Appears On, Year of Release (of the album)
Genre: what type of music it is, here's a bit more info on that
You Tube Link: A link to the best available video of the song on You Tube.
Lyrics: A link to some generic lyrics site, generally the first one off google.
Best Bit: 0.00 -- My favourite bit of the song.
Comment: Why I like the song.
Have fun browsing! Songs are listed alphabetically by the artist's first name; I've numbered them for my own sake to make sure there's exactly 200. I hope you come across some stuff you didn't know of before. For me, there are few things that give me more joy than discovering new music. If you've got any recommenations or even a similar list, be sure to whip them my way.
Finally, this is probably the right place to give special thanks to my friend and long-time music buddy Andrew. On a tragic day in September, with this list half completed, I got a new PC and, somehow, I managed to set one of my old HDDs on fire! It had over 20,000 songs on it. It is lost, forever! But Andrew very kindly sent me 3 DVDs packed full of stuff -- full of over 3,000 very-hard-to-find songs in fact -- to help recover some of the damage. The lost HDD proved to be a kind of blessing in disguise because he'd put a lot of hidden gems on there that I'd not heard before. If he ever reads this list, he'll no doubt find evidence of his influence all over it -- but I hope that even he might stumble on something he hasn't considered before.
Forward to: Top 200 Songs: A-B