Music Rant ... and: Top Songs of All-Time?

Well I thought that me and Stephen King were alone in a vacuum proclaiming American Idiot by Green Day to be the album of the year, but looks like Grammy thinks it might be too. Nice to see it get a few nods, though honestly who really cares about the grammy's? Music is so subjective, who is anyone to say what someone should or shouldn't like. That being said, I have a few bands that I simply hate as a matter of principle. And it is kinda awkward since many friends of mine are really into these bands. Well, I may as well offend as many people as possible and just say for the record that one band I (as do countless others) simply can't stand is Dave Matthews Band. Just hearing a song by them gets me angry. I think that a huge part of the reason for that is that so many fans of this band are basically preppy assholes who thought they were somehow cool in high school for putting DMB '98!!!!!! on their yearbook pages. It goes to show you the kind of people that are into the band when every summer in CT, the Dave concerts have more arrests and incident than any other. I can see people getting out of hand at say, a Metallica concert, but it's kind of pathetic that Dave Matthews of all people inspires teens and twenty-somethings to go to his concerts and get into trouble. Yep, there are of course many perfectly nice, unassuming Dave Matthews fans out there, but I would say that this band has gotta have, in general, the worst, most annoying fans of almost any other group out there. And to top it all off, their music is somehow considered (mostly by these fans) as being inherently superior. The same attitude is held by fans of other annoyingly artsy bands like Radiohead and yes, even The Grateful Dead. To these pretentious fans of such bands, I say get off your high horse and try some music with GENUINE EMOTION in it that moves you in some way rather than evoking hordes of spoiled rich kids wearing sandals and tie-dyed shirts and too-old baseball caps. But then again, music is subjective, like I said, so, though my dislike for these bands probably won't change anytime soon, everyone is entitled to their opinion. And speaking of opinions, how about Rolling Stone's new list of the 500 greatest songs ever? Interesting read, to say the least (it kept me occupied during my long flight back from LA). They seemed to have ignored most of the 90's and gone a little overboard with the Beatles and Rolling Stones love, but I do commend them on their choice of Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone as their number one pick. When I was in London last spring, this song became my apartment's theme, and my guitar-wielding suite-mates often broke this classic out for some group sing-a-long sessions that made me appreciate this song for the classic it is. I was surprised that some classic rock bands like Styxx, Meatloaf, and Rush were left off the list entirely. You'd think rock epics like Come Sail Away or Paradise By The Dashboard Light might be somewhere on the list. I also though that some all-time great bands like Queen and Tom Petty seemed under-represented. Also, the nineties seemed very conspicuously absent, with Weezer getting a token mention with Buddy Holly (definitely not their best song) and Nirvana having a few scattered entries (notably cracking the top 10 with Teen Spirit). Finally, the rap entries seemed inconsistent. Run DMC, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, and one or two others were listed, but they seemed hesitant about whether or not rap would be fully represented as a genre on the list. If so, where were Snoop, Notorious BIG, and other influential names? And dammit all, give some love Jesse's Girl, that's gotta be, what, like at least 400 ... right?



So, here's my own personal top100 (yep, 100!) songs. Now I have always respected the Beatles, Stones, and Dylan, but I never really got into them as others have, so you won't find Dylan or the Beatles on here. I also (as you can probably tell) don't mind songs that some might consider, um, cheesy (Poison anyone?). So with that in mind here's my list. I probably forgot to include a lot of stuff and I'll probably look back on this and ask what in de blue hell was I thinking, but here ya go: Danny's Personal Top 100 All Time Rock Songs:



1. Dream On - Aerosmith

2. Sweet Child of Mine - Guns N' Roses

3. Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty

4. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

5. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

6. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepellin

7. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith

8. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

9. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N' Roses

10. Another Brick in The Wall (Part 2) - Pink Floyd

11. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin

12. Highway to Hell - AC/DC

13. I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones

14. Enter Sandman - Metallica

15. Jeremy - Pearl Jam

16.Come Sail Away - Styxx

17. Crazy Train - Ozzy Ozbourne

18. Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones

19. Keep On Rockin' In the Free World - Neil Young

20. Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones

21. End of the World as We Know It - REM

22. In Bloom - Nirvana

23. One - Metallica

24. Teenage Wasteland - The Who

25. London Calling - The Clash

26. Lola - The Kinks

27. Loser - Beck

28. Still Loving You - The Scorpions

29. Evenflow - Pearl Jam

30. Walk This Way - Aerosmith / Run DMC

31. Fight For Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys

32. Paranoid - Black Sabbath

33. Living On a Prayer - Bon Jovi

34. Master of Puppets - Metallica

35. Amazing - Aerosmith

36. Freefallin' - Tom Petty

37. Dazed and Confused - Led Zepellin

38. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses

39. Peace of Mind - Boston

40. Paradise By the Dashboard Light - Meatloaf

41. Thriller - Michael Jackson

42. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

43. Basket Case - Greenday

44. The Sweater Song - Weezer

45. Detroit Rock City - Kiss

46. Plush - Stone Temple Pilots

47. Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones

48. For Whom The Bell Tolls - Metallica

49. Come As You Are - Nirvana

50. Angel - Aerosmith

51. Back in Black - AC/DC

52. November Rain - Guns N' Roses

53. My Name is Jonas - Weezer

54. Photograph - Def Leppard

55. Fallen Angel - Poison

56. Poison - Alice cooper

57. In The Name of Love - U2

58. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers

59. Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty

60. Tom Sawyer - Rush

61. We Are The Champions - Queen

62. Spirit of Radio - Rush

63. Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols

64. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard

65. Hotel California - The Eagles

66. Bad Moon Rising - Credence Clearwater Revival

67. Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

68. The Rooster - Alice in Chains

69. Self Esteem - The Offspring

70. Rocket Queen - Guns N' Roses

71. Layla - Cream

72. Panama - Van Halen

73. Bullet With Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins

74. Love in An Elevator - Aerosmith

75. Trippin' On A Hole in A Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots

76. God Save the Queen - The Sex Pistols

77. Free Will - Rush

78. Money For Nothing - Dire Straits

79. Rock You Like A Hurricane - The Scorpions

80. Epic - Faith No More

81. Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin

82. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica

83. All I Really Want - Alanis Morissette

84. Mr. Roboto - Styxx

85. Sweet Dreams - The Eurythmics

86. Losing My Religion - REM

87. Sabatoge - The Beastie Boys

88. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

89. Baba O'Reilly - The Who

90. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard

91. School's Out - Alice Coooper

92. House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

93. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? - REM

94. More Than A Feeling - Boston

95. Radio Ga Ga - Queen

96. Iron Man - Black Sabbath

97. Eat the Rich - Aerosmith

98. We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister

99. Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden

100. Won't Be Fooled Again - The Who