Top 100 Songs

I tried to go by feel and not by which songs are supposed to be good. It's difficult to rank obscure songs on the same list as giant hits, so I purposely did not use numbers, but they're arranged better=higher. There are also more than 100 now, and I'll eventually get to 200.

Scroll to the bottom or click here for my top ten guitar solos list, and also check out my Top 25 Albums plus Hawkwind.

Neutral Milk Hotel, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

This is the only song that made me cry the first time I heard it, and it has my favorite metaphysical line, "How strange it is to be anything at all."

Beat Happening, Indian Summer

Sometimes a simple song sounds better than a complex song ever could. Beat Happening were geniuses at stripping it down, and this is their timeless classic.

R.E.M., Wendell Gee

There's a magic in this song that I've only ever heard in, well, the two songs above it in this list.

Blue Oyster Cult, Don't Fear The Reaper

I've probably heard it 1000 times and it still sounds as good as ever.

Gerry Rafferty, Baker Street

I love soft hits of the 70's and very early 80's, and this is my favorite.

Camper Van Beethoven, June / All Her Favorite Fruit

These two songs blend together on the album and should not be separated.

Galaxie 500, Flowers

Mazzy Star, Fade Into You

Talking Heads, Once In A Lifetime

Neutral Milk Hotel, Little Birds

Recorded at their last live show and available only as a bootleg.

Hawkwind, Space Is Deep

Everything I like about Sonic Youth was in this song in 1972. See the album page for more about Hawkwind.

Chris Stamey, Something Came Over Me

My favorite happy love song.

R.E.M., Rockville

This could eventually go down as the best American song of the 1980's.

Velvet Underground, Heroin

It's shocking how much this song still rocks. The studio version and the 1969 live version are equally good.

Corndolly, Come Out

Forgotten Illinois band.

Peter Gabriel, Solsbury Hill

Big Star, September Gurls

Consensus best song by the great underground band of the 70's.

Gordon Lightfoot, If You Could Read My Mind

I love Gordon Lightfoot!

Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City

Beat Happening, Pajama Party in a Haunted Hive

Best song ever about sex. "Sting me, queen me, queen sting dream me, dream queen sting me, sting queen"

Husker Du, Books About UFO's

The happiest song I've ever heard.

Glen Campbell, By The Time I Get To Phoenix

And the saddest song I've ever heard.

Journey, Don't Stop Believing

Big Star, What's Going Ahn

Camper Van Beethoven, Good Guys and Bad Guys

Nirvana, untitled

The one on the No Alternative compilation, with the chorus "You're in a laundry room."

R.E.M., Belong

Dave Loggins, Please Come To Boston

Beat Happening, Gravedigger Blues

Mark Lanegan, Where Did You Sleep Last Night

The famous Nirvana version is actually a second generation cover of this stronger cover of the Leadbelly original.

Led Zeppelin, When The Levee Breaks

"Stairway to Heaven" is boring. This is Led Zeppelin's masterpiece.

Gordon Lightfoot, Carefree Highway

Flaming Lips, Do You Realize?

Son Volt, Tear Stained Eye

Pete Yorn, Just Another

The Kinks, Waterloo Sunset

Neil Diamond, I Am The Lion

Strange, strange song about civilization and nature.

The Police, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

Younger people cannot imagine how dark and spooky this song sounded when it first came out. Now that I think about it, so did "Hotel California." And also...

Phil Collins, In The Air Tonight

Another song that sounds normal now but was strange and radical at the time, with the drums not coming in until near the end, in the best and most famous drum lick of all time.

Jack Nitzsche, Old Enough To Know

To my knowledge, this song has never been released or even bootlegged -- you can only hear it by watching the movie Cutter's Way.

The Go-Go's, Our Lips Are Sealed

One of those songs that you don't appreciate until you've heard it hundreds of times and you notice it keeps souding better.

Bone Cellar, Dryrot

Great forgotten Seattle band.

Camper Van Beethoven, We Saw Jerry's Daughter / Surprise Truck

Dead Kennedys, Kill The Poor

The best classic punk song, and my favorite band name.

Uncle Tupelo, Black Eye

Flaming Lips, Yashimi Battles the Pink Robots (live)

I cannot explain rationally why I like this song so much -- which makes me like it more!

Dire Straits, Skateaway

Gordon Lightfoot, Wherefore and Why

Red House Painters, Katy Song

Flying Burrito Brothers, Sin City

Neil Diamond, Soolaimon

The catchiest song ever recorded. Whenever I get a bad catchy song stuck in my head, I use "Soolaimon" to get it out.

Ramones, Oh Oh I Love Her So

From their brilliant second album, Leave Home.

Van Morrison, Brown Eyed Girl

I looked at a lot of other lists to jog my memory, and I think this song was on every one.

Blondie, Dreaming

Featuring an over-the-top performance by my favorite drummer, Clem Burke.

Tom Waits, ol' 55

Nobody has stayed good as far into his career as Tom Waits, yet I still like his first song on his first album the best.

Neil Young, After the Gold Rush

Bob Dylan, Boots of Spanish Leather

Hawkwind, Jack of Shadows

Wall Of Voodoo, Factory

Wall of Voodoo had two excellent albums, their self titled e.p. and Call Of The West.

Blondie, Heart of Glass

Hawkwind, Infinity

Pretenders, Back on the Chain Gang

Bob Dylan, Idiot Wind

Gordon Lightfoot, Cobwebs and Dust

Hawkwind, Motorway City

Neil Diamond, Stones

The Muffs, Lucky Guy

I was obsessed with the Muffs in the mid 90's. This is the only song that made me dance the first time I heard it.

Built to Spill, Nowhere Nothin Fuckup

Ramones, Questioningly

People who put "I Wanna Be Sedated" on these lists do not know shit about the Ramones.

R.E.M., Crazy

Hawkwind, Lord of Light (live)

Scorpions, Still Loving You

My favorite hair metal song.

Gordon Lightfoot, Early Morning Rain

Neil Young, The Needle and the Damage Done

A perfect song, and I love the quick ending.

The Shins, New Slang

Old 97's, Valentine

Willie Nelson, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here

Cheap Trick, Surrender

Guns n Roses, Sweet Child of Mine

Featuring a guitar riff lifted from Rush's "Xanadu".

Ramones, Blitzkrieg Bop

Velvet Underground, What Goes On (1969 live)

I'd like to loop the long jam and play it all day.

Loreena McKennitt, Greensleeves

A Loreena McKennitt album once made me cry just playing in the background. This song was recorded in one take and accidentally.

Neil Young, Powderfinger

Teenage Fanclub, Alcoholiday

Tom Waits, Kentucky Avenue

Suicidal Tendencies, Institutionalized

Antenna, Snakes

Bone Cellar, Lost in the Light of Day

Hawkwind, Paradox

Blue Oyster Cult, In Thee

Led Zeppelin, Going to California

Melanie, Some Say

Genesis, Supper's Ready

The peak of the art-rock era, takes up almost a whole side of the album Foxtrot.

Pink Floyd, Echoes

Another whole-album-side song, from Pink Floyd's greatest album, Meddle.

Rush, Cygnus X-1 (part one)

My favorite hard art rock song. I was obsessed with Rush around 1983. Scroll down for more Rush on the guitar solos list.

Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit

Has anyone noticed this is never played on the radio? I know it was overplayed when it came out, but it's been 15 years! Instead they play "Come As You Are," the least interesting song Nirvana ever recorded.

Bruce Springsteen, I'm On Fire

Tom Waits, Tom Traubert's Blues

Features the best rhyme ever written: "Lost my Saint Christopher / Now that I've kissed her."

Ramones, Glad to See You Go

Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody

I know all the words!

Culture Club, Karma Chameleon

Another song that's impossible to wear out.

Blue Oyster Cult, Astronomy (live)

The Some Enchanted Evening version.

Devo, Gut Feeling

Ween, Baby Bitch