10. Smashing Pumpkins — “1979” — This song reminds me of driving around with my friends in Fargo, N.D., during my high school years. The “1979” of the title is a stand-in for anytime, I assume, since Billy Corgan’s teenage years were actually the 1980s.
9. Camera Obscura — “Before You Cry” — Even though it starts off with a dude singing it, this is actually an early Camera Obscura entry. Tracyanne enters the picture after a long piano solo with “You’re feeling a little sad tonight, but you’ll be alright,” at which point the song reaches another level.
8. Colin Hay — “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You” — More “Garden State”-y goodness in the form of the saddest damn song about lost love you’ll ever hear. Colin’s tune actually makes me feel better about being hopelessly in love, though, because I realize at least one other guy shares my pain.
7. Jewel — “You Were Meant for Me” — Jewel’s got maple syrup, but not the guy she loves. This song is such a beautifully melancholy snapshot about how you have to go through the everyday things like making breakfast even when your heart isn’t in it.
6. Journey — “Don’t Stop Believin’” — It was on “The Sopranos,” it was on “Glee,” it’s played regularly by cover bands. I heard it at a baseball game earlier this year — twice in a row. Like the rest of the world, I’m still not tired of it.
5. Arcade Fire — “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” — With a decipherable phrase here and there (“Then we think of our parents/ Whatever happened to them?”), the pride of Montreal takes listeners back to their respective childhoods and all the emotions connected with it.
4. Traveling Wilburys — “The Devil’s Been Busy” — In a broadly political piece that’s as relevant as ever, the Wilburys — one vocalist at a time — take on polluting corporations and corrupt governments. “Sometimes you’re better off not knowing how much you’ve been had.” True, but when the message is this relentlessly catchy, I’ll listen.
3. Bruce Springsteen — “Downbound Train” — “She just said Joe/ I gotta go/ We had it once/ We ain’t got it anymore.” Joe can’t catch a break in this song, which gets sadder verse by verse to the point where you’re on your knees crying at the point where Joe is doing the same thing. And that, of course, is why I love it.
2. Belle and Sebastian — “Another Sunny Day” — For a while I thought this was the best pop song I’d ever heard, so I showed it off to a friend. He wasn’t as enamored as I was, but he said, “Yeah, that song fits your personality.” I took it as a compliment.
1. Camera Obscura — “Honey in the Sun” — How long have we had pop music? For the sake of argument, let’s say 50 years, since the Beatles delivered songs like “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” in the early ’60s. So for a half-century, bands all over the world in garages, on stages and in studios have tried to make the perfect pop song. Many came close, including 299 entries on this list, but it wasn’t until April 2009 that a band finally achieved it, and it was Camera Obscura on the last track of its last album of its first decade of recording. The secret ingredient: Trumpets (Who knew?). The song makes me think of honeys, a sunny day at the beach, the pangs of newly discovered love and how you shouldn’t be ashamed of being sentimental. The lyric is “saxophones and honey in the sun for you,” not — as some have suggested — “sex on the phone and honey” of “sacks of frozen honey” (although that last one is giggle-worthy). But like all great pop songs, it doesn’t matter if you understand every word, it just matters that you get swept away by the mood. I do, for five minutes and 42 seconds that I wish would go on forever.
OK, I’m done. That was fun. Share your own top 300 (or top 10, for the sake of simplicity) in the comment threads below if you like. Or list the songs I snubbed from my top 300.
Comments
Thanks John, that was fun! It’s made me think about my faves, I might have to make a list….# Posted By Danielle | 8/5/10 8:26 PM
When you get it ready, post it here. I’m hoping to get everyone to share at least their top 10s.# Posted By John Hansen | 8/5/10 9:49 PM
It’s interesting to read about someone elses ‘Favorite Songs’. There is no way to possibly argue the list because they are simply your ‘favorite’. Unlike a ‘best of’ countdown on TV or radio, there is no argument of ‘it changed music’ or ‘it was the first of its kind’. In this list it simply doesn’t matter. It is also fun to open my eyes to new bands and music that I wouldn’t normally check out. Even if you reviewed an album I wouldn’t care, but for a band to make your top 10.. they must be worth a listen. (Example: Camera Obscura – I have never listened to a single note until today)
The only problem I can see with a top 10 list is that it probably (more than likely) will change from year to year, or even month to month. What you like today may not be what you like next month.
Now, that is not to say I wasn’t cursing under my breath when I read your top 10 because my opinion is so different.. so I will bring up a few spots you might have missed.. at least in my opinion.
First -you may not like a certain genre or type of music but usually there is at least one or two songs that you might like.. whether it is for nostalgic reasons or not.
What about hip hop/rap? You must have enjoyed ‘California Love’ or ‘Regulators’? Anything from Snoop Dogg? Jay Z? Eminem? I’ll throw the same thing out for country. I can say that I hate country all day, but I won’t deny that I don’t love some of the classics from Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, even George Strait.
Of course, growing up in the ‘grunge’ era, my list would contain a LOT more grunge bands.. Pearl Jam, STP, Bush, Smashing Pumpkins.. (you did have some of these)
So again, although I can’t ague with the list, I will say that I think you might have missed an agle on your favorites.# Posted By Shaune | 8/6/10 12:52 PM
Shaune–
True. This was strictly my favorites, and I tried to stay true to that. I may have given a slight edge to some classics just to give my list some legitimacy; for example, I made sure to include my favorite Dylan song and Lennon’s “Imagine.”
My top 10 is indeed biased toward songs I like at this very moment. In a way, it’s the songs from the ’90s and ’80s that ranked highly that are especially impressive, because my appreciation of them hasn’t diminished. Springsteen’s “Downbound Train.” The ultra-depressing Jewel song. The Pumpkins’ “1979.”
I had Jay-Z represented twice as a collaborator, with Beyonce and Rihanna. Can’t think of any Snoop, Eminem, Garth, Kenny or George that would’ve come close to making my list. Is “California Love” by 2Pac? If it’s that “city of Compton” song, I kinda thought that song was amusing, but I didn’t consider it for my list. I don’t know “Regulators.” Is that a Beastie Boys tune? I am totally ignorant of rap/hip-hop; I usually only get into the crossover stuff that is more poppy.
The amount of Pumpkins I had on my list surprised me. I had four of their songs, including three in the top 100. I snubbed “Zero” (which I think is one of your and Danielle’s favorite songs) and “Tonight, Tonight,” which were both close to making it, and I probably could’ve grabbed something from the underrated “Adore” record, which I recall is easy to like.
Bush’s “Machinehead” could’ve easily made my list. I remember really appreciating that song back in our senior year of high school (in the days of lunch at The Bell); but you and Matt loved the song, I just liked it. In a way, I didn’t want to steal your thunder, I guess.
For STP, I had “Interstate Love Song,” which should be on every music fan’s list. I could’ve added “Tripping over a Hole in a Paper Heart,” which is very catchy. I had Talk Show’s “Hello Hello,” also, and could’ve added “Peeling an Orange.”
Pearl Jam was a blatant snub on my part. I just never got into them. I lean toward hookier, poppier stuff, and I think Pearl Jam leans toward epic songs that require a few listens to appreciate.
I also realize that I snubbed REM. They are a band that I appreciate, but I just couldn’t think of any singles that I flat-out loved. “What’s the Frequency Kenneth” comes closest. I also snubbed Metallica (I could’ve put “Hero of the Day” on there) and Guns N Roses (“Welcome to the Jungle” is a song you gotta appreciate when it’s played at ballgames, but it didn’t quite make my cut).
I left out a lot of mainstream songs that I appreciate/like and gave the tiebreaker to songs that are more personal to me — songs that not everybody likes, but that are maybe more of a discovery.
Do you like Camera Obscura, or are they just not your thing? As you can tell, they are my favorite band of the moment.# Posted By John Hansen | 8/6/10 2:19 PM