Monday, May 05, 2003

The Project, Part III--The Conclusion I thought about stretching this thing out over a couple more days, but I gotta move on, blogwise and otherwise. So this will be a longish summary of the conclusion of my project. I started with 260, then dropped to 100, and I spent this weekend gradually cutting it down. The first twenty out--that is, songs 81-100--are here, no order whatsoever: Don't Stand So Close To Me, The Police; You Wreck Me, Tom Petty; En Focus, De La Soul; Let Let Me In, De La Soul; Living On a Prayer, Bon Jovi; When Doves Cry, Prince; April Come She Will, Simon and Garfunkel; White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane; Smooth, Santana; Down On The Corner, CCR; Green River, CCR; Save a Prayer, Duran Duran; Wishing Well, Terence Trent D'Arby; Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd; October, U2; Tunnel of Love, Bruce Springsteen; River of Deceit, Mad Season; For Your Love, Yardbirds; Ripple, Grateful Dead; Piano Man, Billy Joel A word about this group. Some of these were easy cuts, but as with every group, it got very tough towards the end; the hardest cuts were Piano Man, Green River, En Focus, and You Wreck Me. Good songs all, but this is the honorable mention group, nonetheless. Quarterfinalists, again in no order whatsoever: California Dreaming--The Mamas and the Papas Head Over Heels--Go-Gos Karma Police--Radiohead Fall On Me--REM Don't Change Your Plans--Ben Folds Five My Life--Billy Joel In Hiding--Pearl Jam Sonic Boom--Gear Daddies Penny Lane--The Beatles High Plains Drifter--The Beastie Boys Creep--Radiohead Major Tom--Peter Schilling Africa--Toto A Long December--Counting Crows Sweet Caroline--Neil Diamond No Chump Love Sucker--Red Hot Chili Peppers Can't Carry on--Crowded House Nebraska--Bruce Springsteen Tennessee Fire--The Silos Born Of Frustration--James Disappear--INXS Unsatisfied--The Replacements Androgynous--The Replacements Hell--Squirrel Nut Zippers Airline to Heaven--Billy Bragg and Wilco Too Many Tears--The Call Bust a Move--Young MC Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald--Gordon Lightfoot Don't Follow--Alice In Chains Under Pressure--David Bowie and Queen Across the Universe--The Beatles Only the Young--Journey Downbound Train--Bruce Springsteen 1979--Smashing Pumpkins The Unforgettable Fire--U2 Windfall--Son Volt Tear Stained Eye--Son Volt Come On Eileen--Dexys Midnight Runners Cold Beverage--G. Love and Special Sauce Can't Hardly Wait--The Replacements Tough work here. I had a hard time with a lot of stuff. One of the most interesting things I found in listening to this music (and I listened to every song on this list at least once this weekend; many more than once, some five to ten times) was that the 80s cheese that I love dropped out of contention more quickly than I expected. Don't get me wrong--I love Africa, Come on Eileen, etc. But in close, head-to-head competition, these songs didn't have the edge to move to the semis. The other thing is that the arbitrary restrictions I set up--no more than 5 songs per band in the top 80, 3 in the top 40, only one per band in the finals--had a real impact on a couple of bands--Radiohead used its maximum, and would have had 4 in the top 40.  Biggest surprise? Young MC dropping out in the quarters. Had to happen. The semifinalists: Authority Song--John Mellencamp Sweet Child O Mine--Guns N Roses Midnight Blue--Lou Graham Foreplay/Long Time--Boston Why Does It Always Rain On Me?--Travis Hash Pipe--Weezer Jurass Finish First--Jurassic Five Presence of the Lord--Blind Faith Exit--U2 Eleanor Rigby--The Beatles Don't Dream It's Over--Crowded House Can't Find My Way Home--Blind Faith Wicked Garden--Stone Temple Pilots Learning to Fly--Tom Petty Exit Music (For a Film)--Radiohead Optimistic--Radiohead Find the River--REM Fade Into You--Mazzy Star #9 Dream--John Lennon Super Disco Breakin' --Beastie Boys "Exit" by U2 and "Optimistic" by Radiohead would have made the finals without the arbitrary restrictions. Figuring out how to get from 40 to 20 was a nightmare. The songs that came closest were #9 Dream, Authority Song, Midnight Blue, and Why Does It Always Rain On Me. Leaving the top 20: So What'cha Want--Beastie Boys (9) Corduroy--Pearl Jam (10) Fake Plastic Trees--Radiohead (10) California Stars--Billy Bragg and Wilco (10) Sweetness Follows --REM (9) Alex Chilton--The Replacements (8) Don't You Forget About Me--Simple Minds (5) Freedom '90--George Michael (8) I Got You--Split Enz (7) Born To Run--Bruce Springsteen (8) Hotel Yorba--White Stripes (5) Gimme Shelter--Rolling Stones (7) Indian Summer Sky--U2 (6) Yellow--Coldplay (9) Superman--Five For Fighting (7) Keeper of My Heart--Indigo Girls (4) Second Hand News--Fleetwood Mac (5) Statue of Jesus--Gear Daddies (4) Award Tour--A Tribe Called Quest (2) Tempted--Squeeze (2) There it is. Some comments: --The number in parentheses is an estimation of my certainty, on a scale of 1-10, that this song belongs in the spot it ended up. That is to say that if I did this again in a week or two, would Award Tour and Tempted make it again? Maybe. Maybe not. They made it this time, and they're great songs. But anything 8 and up is almost sure to stay, and the three tens are mortal locks, probably always going to be on my list. Does this mean that "Corduroy", "Fake Plastic Trees," and "California Stars" are my favorite three songs ever? Maybe, maybe not--what it means is that they're close enough to the top irrespective of the time I'm listening that they'll always be there. --No Beatles. Surprising. But what are you going to do? They didn't make the cut. --Very little "trash" here. "Freedom '90" may seem like it, because it's by George Michael, but that song is freakin' great, as evidenced by the 8 it received. Is it better than "Eleanor Rigby"? Of course not. But I more frequently want to hear it. --A number of songs have come out in the last few years--Hotel Yorba, Yellow, Superman. Yellow is the only one that I'm really quite sure will be around to stay in five years, but I wouldn't be surprised if all three remain. Thanks for reading this preposterously self-indulgent exercise. I have loved the comments, and hope to get a ton about this final list. 12:53:30 PM    Let's hear it. []