Friday, May 02, 2003

The Project, Part II, THE TOP 100 Face it--you're glad I'm doing this thing. It's Friday, early May, the weather is probably gorgeous (it certainly is here) and you are thrilled to have this distraction on a day when you wish you weren't working. I'm doing this for you, the working masses, yearning to breathe free. I spent a chunk of time last night and this morning making cuts, and listening to a lot of songs. I took into account some of the comments I received, and it did result in some changes; the most substantive is probably that Son Volt's "Tear Stained Eye" ended up moving from nowhere to the Top 100 after Sean S. recommended it. Good call, Sean. The Indigo Girls went from seven in the top 260 to only one in the top 100, and that one was close. The Beatles also had a big drop--11 to 3. This surprised me a little bit; I love the Beatles. But I found that it was easier to lose many of their songs than to lose other groups. I was also surprised that the Clash dropped out of my list. It's my opinion that London Calling is one of the single greatest albums of all time. What I found, however, after listening to many songs, is that the Clash is close enough to punk rock for me that they couldn't make the cut. I like punk rock, or at least some derivatives of it, and the Clash transcend punk, for certain. But they have enough punk elements that they aren't always there for me, which is my problem with the whole genre. I mean, I appreciate the Sex Pistols, but are you telling me you can't get sick of that? Damn. The Clash are obviously far better than the Pistols, but they barely missed with two songs: "London Calling" and "Clash City Rockers". The latter was hard to lose; the guitar chords at the beginning are awesome and absolutely distinctive, like "Gimme Shelter" or "A Hard Day's Night". Irrespective, no Clash. The lesson from this: Toto is better than The Clash, as is Peter Schilling. The individual groups that are going to be the hardest for me to pare down are Radiohead and, surprisingly, the Replacements. My favorite Replacements songs are among my favorite songs, period. Four on this list, second only to Radiohead. Going to work on this all weekend. Anxious to hear comments. Here's the list of the Top 100 in alphabetical order. 1. A Tribe Called Quest--Award Tour 2. Alice in Chains--Don't Follow 3. Beastie Boys--Super Disco Breakin' 4. Beastie Boys--So What'cha Want 5. Beastie Boys--High Plains Drifter 6. Beatles--Across the Universe 7. Beatles--Penny Lane 8. Beatles--Eleanor Rigby 9. Blind Faith--Can't Find My Way Home 10. Blind Faith--Presence of the Lord 11. Bon Jovi--Livin' On A Prayer 12. Boston--Foreplay/Long Time 13. Billy Bragg and Wilco--California Stars 14. Billy Bragg and Wilco--Airline to Heaven 15. The Call--Too Many Tears 16. Coldplay--Yellow 17. Counting Crows--A Long December 18. Creedence Clearwater Revival--Green River 19. Creedence Clearwater Revival--Down On the Corner 20. Crowded House--Don't Dream It's Over 21. Crowded House--Can't Carry On 22. Terence Trent D'Arby--Wishing Well 23. De La Soul--En Focus 24. De La Soul--Let Let Me In 25. Dexy's Midnight Runners--Come On Eileen 26. Neil Diamond--Sweet Caroline 27. Duran Duran--Save A Prayer 28. Five For Fighting--Super Man (It's Not Easy) 29. Fleetwood Mac--Second Hand News 30. Ben Folds Five--Don't Change Your Plans 31. G. Love and Special Sauce--Cold Beverage 32. Gear Daddies--Statue of Jesus 33. Gear Daddies--Sonic Boom 34. Go-Gos--Head Over Heels 35. Lou Graham--Midnight Blue 36. Grateful Dead--Ripple 37. Guns 'N' Roses--Sweet Child O' Mine 38. Indigo Girls--Keeper Of My Heart 39. INXS--Disappear 40. James--Born Of Frustration 41. Jefferson Airplane--White Rabbit 42. Billy Joel--Piano Man 43. Billy Joel--My Life 44. Journey--Only the Young 45. Jurassic Five--Jurass Finish First 46. John Lennon--#9 Dream 47. Gordon Lightfoot--The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald 48. Mad Season--River of Deceit 49. Mamas and the Papas--California Dreaming 50. Mazzy Star--Fade Into You 51. John Mellencamp--Authority Song 52. George Michael--Freedom '90 53. Pearl Jam--In Hiding 54. Pearl Jam--Corduroy 55. Tom Petty--Learning to Fly 56. Tom Petty--You Wreck Me 57. Pink Floyd--Wish You Were Here 58. The Police--Don't Stand So Close to Me 59. Queen and David Bowie--Under Pressure 60. Prince--When Doves Cry 61. Radiohead--Creep 62. Radiohead--Karma Police 63. Radiohead--Exit Music (For a Film) 64. Radiohead--Fake Plastic Trees 65. Radiohead--Optimistic 66. Red Hot Chili Peppers--No Chump Love Sucker 67. REM--Sweetness Follows 68. REM--Fall On Me 69. REM--Find the River 70. Replacements--Unsatisfied 71. Replacements--Anadrogynous 72. Replacements--Alex Chilton 73. Replacements--Can't Hardly Wait 74. Rolling Stones--Gimme Shelter 75. Santana--Smooth 76. Peter Schilling--Major Tom 77. The Silos--Tennessee Fire 78. Simon and Garfunkel--April Come She Will 79. Simple Minds--Don't You Forget About Me 80. Smashing Pumpkins--1979 81. Son Volt--Windfall 82. Son Volt--Tear Stained Eye 83. Split Enz--I Got You 84. Bruce Springsteen--Downbound Train 85. Bruce Springsteen--Tunnel of Love 86. Bruce Springsteen--Born to Run 87. Bruce Springsteen--Nebraska 88. Squeeze--Tempted 89. Squirrel Nut Zippers--Hell 90. Stone Temple Pilots--Wicked Garden 91. Toto--Africa 92. Travis--Why Does It Always Rain On Me? 93. U2--October 94. U2--Exit 95. U2--The Unforgettable Fire 96. U2--Indian Summer Sky 97. Weezer--Hash Pipe 98. White Stripes--Hotel Yorba 99. Yardbirds--For Your Love 100. Young MC--Bust a Move 1:10:54 PM    Let's hear it. []