Update February 2015! While I pledged to leave this list untouched,
several years have passed and I felt a need to make a few alterations.
Not by adding new songs, mind you - the list is limited to the first 40
years of my life - but by correcting some omissions and "mistakes".
Click here for the master list.
Here are the changes:
"Tradition" by Burning Spear was
added at #487, bumping out "Low Is A Height" by Great Northern
wholesale. "Low Is A Height" is obviously great, but it was a newer song
at the time of my list making and I was sort of overly taken by it. It
doesn't stand up by the list standards over time. "Tradition" on the
other hand! Thank you Soundhound! I had this on an old warbly mixed
cassette and I never knew the name. Soundhound recognized it,
hallelujah, before the sound was lost forever to time and tape
degradation. A fave reggae tune.
In the first go around, I missed "Waiting
Room" by Fugazi, probably the best post-punk song ever written. This
had to rate pretty high so I slotted it in at #44. I knocked "Hey Ya"
by Outkast down about 50 spots, which in turned bumped another and I had
to deal with the snowball. I looked for songs that I could justify
moving down the list. After "Hey Ya", in approximately 50 slot
increments, these were: "Shakey Dog" by Ghostface Killah, "Sheena Is A
Punk Rocker" by The Ramones, "Respect" by Otis Redding, "Working Out
Words" by the Diableros, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" by the Smiths,
"Lazy Days" by Enya, and "Standing Stone" by Flying Saucer Attack. The
final bump right out of the list was "Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night"
by The Hold Steady. A favorite, obviously, but it was ultimately a
casualty. I also exchanged out wholesale "Spring Unseen" by Magnetic Morning for "Two Step" by Low, which should have always been on this list, ffs.
The absence of "Soon Enough" by The
Constantines seemed an atrocity to me, perhaps because friends and I
have been jamming on it over the past few years - it just became that
much more meaningful. It was also one of the last cuts to the original
list. I swapped it out directly at #201, replacing "Deep Red Bells" by
Neko Case. That song should not have been on the list, never mind at
#201. I think I wanted Neko Case represented somewhere because
she is so damn amazing, but in retrospect I should have let the songs
stand on their own, rather than conceding to a need to represent the
artist in some fashion.
Another horrifying mistake was
omitting "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. What was I thinking? I
think I was thinking that the song was everyone's favorite and
overplayed and simply too emblematic of a whole musical movement. Which
is not a reason at all. This has been corrected by swapping it in at
#68 to replace "Telephone and Rubberband" by Penguin Cafe
Orchestra. This wonderful instrumental was rated too high in retrospect
and was moved to #391; this turfed "No. 1 Rock Station" by Guitaro out
of the list completely. The Guitaro tune is a wonderfully fuzzy
pop-drone piece, but I recognized it's not essential.
"I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats replaced "Still Life" by Russian Futurists at #367. The original omission of this hit was intentional, and I felt that "Someone's Looking At You" showcased them perfectly -- but really, "I Don't Mondays" is a masterpiece.
I also added a two Neil Young songs ("My My, Hey Hey" and "Old Man"), since having only one ("Pocohontas") was an insult. And "Tom Sawyer" by Rush.
In the high 400s, I made some necessary exchanges:
"One Great City!" by The Weakerthans jumped into #458, replacing "Standing Stone" by Flying Saucer Attack. One Great City was a later discovery by a band I had initially dismissed. "Standing Stone", while a wonderfully fuzzy, droney, lo-fi gem, feels non-essential now.
"Keep
On Moving" by Bob Marley was slotted in #474, pushing out "Time To Say
Goodbye" by Paul Potts. At the time I was making this list I was being
moved by Potts' version. I defended its inclusion against detractors
but they were right in the end.
"Better Man" by
Pearl Jam turfed "Bridges and Balloons" by Joanna Newsom at #490. I
adore Newsom, but had to admit that her whiny warble subtracted too much
from her gorgeous harp playing and skewed pixie lyrics. Meanwhile,
"Better Man" has aged like a fine port.
"Making Plans
for Nigel" by XTC replaced "The Ballad of Scarlett Town" by Johnny and
the Moon at #491. The latter is a great foot stomper but in the high
400s it was the last man out against XTC's classic track.
So there you have it. I feel much better.
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