These are my personal favorites with no claim to objectivity. 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. Also I'm constantly moving songs up and down and on and off. I'm up to 153 now, and I'll change the title again when it gets close 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, and my Condensed Beatles.
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.
Mazzy Star, Fade Into You
A perfect song, with the best ever opening line, "I want to hold the hand inside you."
Blue Oyster Cult, Don't Fear The Reaper
I've probably heard it 1000 times and it still sounds as good as ever.
Galaxie 500, Flowers
Gerry Rafferty, Baker Street
I love soft hits of the 70's and very early 80's, and this is my favorite.
Talking Heads, Once In A Lifetime
Neutral Milk Hotel, Little Birds
Recorded at their last live show and available only as a bootleg.
Camper Van Beethoven, June / All Her Favorite Fruit
Two of their greatest songs, and they blend together on the album.
Gordon Lightfoot, If You Could Read My Mind
I love Gordon Lightfoot!
Flobots, Handlebars
The greatest political song of all time in two categories: its emotional power and the depth of its message. The end changes the meaning of the beginning.
Chris Stamey, Something Came Over Me
My favorite happy love song.
R.E.M., Nightswimming
It's easy to take R.E.M. for granted, but they're clearly the best American band of all time.
Sigur Rós, Svefn-g-englar (Sleepwalkers)
Easily my favorite foreign language song.
Velvet Underground, Heroin
It's shocking how much this song still rocks. The studio version and the 1969 live version are equally good.
Gordon Lightfoot, Carefree Highway
R.E.M., Belong
Peter Gabriel, Solsbury Hill
Big Star, September Gurls
Consensus best song by the great underground band of the 70's.
Bob Dylan, Idiot Wind
Corndolly, Come Out
Forgotten Illinois band.
Tom Waits, Kentucky Avenue
This song is so sad that it took me years to understand it.
Hawkwind, Space Is Deep
Much more at the bottom of the album page.
Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City
Camper Van Beethoven, Good Guys and Bad Guys
The happiest song I've ever heard.
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"
The Police, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
If you weren't there, you can't imagine how dark and spooky this song sounded when it first came out. Now that I think about it, so did "Hotel California".
The Beatles, Here Comes The Sun
Glen Campbell, By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Journey, Don't Stop Believing
Big Star, What's Going Ahn
Nirvana, untitled
The one on the
No Alternative compilation, with the chorus "You're in a laundry room."
Mark Lanegan, Where Did You Sleep Last Night
The famous Nirvana version is actually a second generation cover of this version.
Bone Cellar, Dryrot
Great forgotten Seattle band.
Violent Femmes, Never Tell
An intense band's most intense song.
Flaming Lips, Do You Realize?
Son Volt, Tear Stained Eye
If this counts as a country song, it's my favorite.
Pete Yorn, Just Another
Dave Loggins, Please Come To Boston
The Beatles, Rain
My favorite John Lennon song.
The Kinks, Waterloo Sunset
R.E.M., Rockville
Hüsker Dü, Hardly Getting Over It
Neil Diamond, I Am The Lion
Strange song about civilization and nature.
Beat Happening, Gravedigger Blues
Phil Collins, In The Air Tonight
We're all used to it now, but this song was weird and radical at the time.
Jack Nitzsche, Old Enough To Know
This song has never been released or even bootlegged -- you can only hear it by watching the movie
Cutter's Way, and only the first verse plays clearly. Here's a zip file with a 49 second mp3, on
Megaupload and
Depositfiles.
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 sounding better.
Camper Van Beethoven, Surprise Truck
No other song rocks this hard while still being fun.
Uncle Tupelo, Black Eye
Band of Horses, The Funeral
Bob Dylan, One More Cup Of Coffee
Flaming Lips, Yashimi Battles the Pink Robots (live)
Dire Straits, Skateaway
Red House Painters, Katy Song
Hüsker Dü, She Floated Away
Pretenders, Back on the Chain Gang
The Sundays, Here's Where The Story Ends
Gordon Lightfoot, Cobwebs and Dust
I love the structure of this song: a simple 18 note vocal melody repeated 16 times with changing lyrics.
Godspeed You Black Emperor, Moya
GYBE have a bunch of "songs" that sound like this and are this good. I named Moya because it's easy to find online. I also love East Hastings and Gathering Storm.
Dead Kennedys, Kill The Poor
The best classic punk song, and my favorite band name.
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, Blitzkrieg Bop
I didn't fully appreciate this song until I heard Yo La Tengo's instrumental version.
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.
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 almost 20 years! Instead they play "Come As You Are", the least interesting song Nirvana ever recorded.
Blondie, Dreaming
Featuring an over-the-top drum performance by Clem Burke.
Neil Young, After the Gold Rush
Bob Dylan, Boots of Spanish Leather
Hawkwind, High Rise
Camper Van Beethoven, Klondike
One of my favorite bands experiments with spooky industrial music. They should have done a whole album like this!
Violent Femmes, Jesus Walking on the Water
If half of all Christian songs were half this good, I would convert.
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
Gordon Lightfoot, Affair on 8th Avenue (1975)
The beautiful Gord's Gold version of this song was cut from the CD and to this day has not been offered for sale in digital form. But it has been ripped from vinyl and shared for free. Here is the flac file on
Megaupload and
Depositfiles.
Cracker, I Want Everything
Scorpions, Still Loving You
My favorite hair metal song.
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
Willie Nelson, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
Hawkwind, Motorway City
The live version on
Zones, with some great E-bow guitar.
Violent Femmes, I Know It's True But I'm Sorry To Say
My favorite song to sing in the car.
Neil Young, The Needle and the Damage Done
A perfect song, and I love the unexpected quick ending.
Queen, White Queen
From their second album. If you know it, you might agree that this is Queen's best song.
Velvet Underground, What Goes On (1969 live)
I'd like to loop the long jam and play it all day.
The Shins, New Slang
Led Zeppelin, Going to California
Neil Diamond, Stones
Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Hawkwind, Infinity
Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
Cheap Trick, Surrender
Hawkwind, Lord of Light
The
Space Ritual live version.
King Crimson, Indiscipline
Ramones, Oh Oh I Love Her So
From their brilliant second album,
Leave Home.
Loreena McKennitt, Greensleeves
A Loreena McKennitt album once made me cry just playing in the background. This song was recorded accidentally in one take.
Simon and Garfunkel, The Boxer
Bob Dylan, Visions of Johanna
Neil Young, Powderfinger
Tom Waits, Old Shoes and Picture Postcards
R.E.M., Everybody Hurts
Red House Painters, New Jersey
Cracker, I'm So Glad She Ain't Never Coming Back
Sometimes David Lowery comes up with something so strange and timeless that I can't believe it was made by humans.
Gordon Lightfoot, Her Love's Return
Teenage Fanclub, Alcoholiday
Tom Waits, That Feel
Suicidal Tendencies, Institutionalized
Guns n Roses, Sweet Child of Mine
Featuring the guitar riff from Rush's "Xanadu"
10,000 Maniacs, My Mother The War
The one song in which they rock out is my favorite.
Old 97's, Valentine
Antenna, Snakes
Bone Cellar, Lost in the Light of Day
Hawkwind, Paradox
Blue Oyster Cult, In Thee
Melanie, Some Say
R.E.M., So. Central Rain
Wall Of Voodoo, Ring of Fire
The definitive version of the Johnny Cash song.
Genesis, Supper's Ready
The peak of the art rock era, taking 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.
The Beatles, Let It Be
The original album version, for the guitar solo.
Bruce Springsteen, I'm On Fire
Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody
I know all the words!
Eagles, Hotel California
Culture Club, Karma Chameleon
Another song that's impossible to wear out.
Blue Oyster Cult, Astronomy (live)
The
Some Enchanted Evening live version.
Galaxie 500, Listen The Snow Is Falling
Devo, Gut Feeling
Camper Van Beethoven, Jack Ruby
Hawkwind, Jack of Shadows
Ween, Baby Bitch
Genesis, The Cinema Show
Led Zeppelin, Ten Years Gone
Velvet Underground, Candy Says
Sung by Doug Yule, not Lou Reed!
Hüsker Dü, Books About UFO's
Willie Nelson, Bandera
Wall Of Voodoo, Lost Weekend
Sonic Youth, Schizophrenia
Chris Bell, I Am the Cosmos
To my knowledge, the only song with this brilliant symmetrical structure: first verse, different verse, chorus, solo, chorus, different verse, first verse.
Bob Geldof, I Don't Like Mondays
The live version from
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball.
U2, Bad (live)
Flock of Seagulls, Space Age Love Song
One of my favorite 80's songs because it's so simple.
AC/DC, You Shook Me All Night Long
Violent Femmes, Add It Up
Ramones, Glad to See You Go
The Muffs, Ethyl My Love
Featuring the best power scream ever recorded.
Gordon Lightfoot, Farewell to Annabel
I can't think of a more mature breakup song.
Buffalo Tom, Enemy
Timbuk 3, Just Another Movie
Great forgotten political song.
Warren Zevon, I Was In The House When The House Burned Down
The second best song title ever, after Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".
Top Ten Guitar Solos
1. Alex Lifeson, Rush, No One At The Bridge
The perfect guitar solo: short, carefully composed, and at the end of the song. Halfway through it takes off like a rocket and leaves all other solos in the dust.
3. Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits, Tunnel of Love
Again at the end of the song, but with a long seductive buildup.
2. Dave Nothing, Bone Cellar, Dry Rot
Another beautiful long jam at the end of the song.
4. Buck Dharma, Blue Oyster Cult, Don't Fear the Reaper
The best thing about this solo is its entrance, blasting in at full strength from near-silence.
5. Alex Lifeson, Rush, Bacchus Plateau
From the same album side as "No One At The Bridge", just as pretty but not as tight.
6. Huw Lloyd-Langton, Hawkwind, The Island
The entire song is a well-crafted two-part guitar solo, combining the solos in "The 5th Second of Forever" and "Dust of Time".
7. Steve Hackett, Genesis, After The Ordeal
So quiet that you might not notice it's the most beautiful melody in all of art rock.
8. Brian May, Queen, We Will Rock You
One more: short, tight, end of song.
9. Elliott Randall, Steely Dan, Reelin' in the Years
Radical because it anchors the song, filling every gap where there isn't singing.
10. Don Felder and Joe Walsh, The Eagles, Hotel California
On everyone's top ten list, and I agree.
11. Marc Moreland, Wall of Voodoo, Ring of Fire
Starts with a variation on the "Our Man Flint" theme and progresses into epic distortion. Incidentally, the Concrete Blonde song "Joey" was written about Moreland.