My 100 Favorite Songs of All-Time: 100-91

If you know me, or have read at least two of my earlier posts, you know I like to make lists. I owe this obsession to Daisy Fuentes and MTV’s best show of all-time- the weekly Top 20 countdown. I would get up before 6 a.m. every Saturday morning when I was in the third or fourth grade just to watch the new countdown. Since then, lists have been a part of my writing life.

Especially so when it comes to music. Doing my best Daisy Fuentes impersonation, I would write down daily top ten lists for my favorite songs at the moment. This would eventually lead to my first all-time top 100 list, created in 2001. Being my first list, it was a solid effort, but not too representative of my music listening life- way too recent-centric.

So I have been doing this list pretty much every other year since: 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009, and now 2012. With each passing countdown, I would tweak the formula as to how I came up with the list a little bit here and there, but with this being 2012 and the end of the Mayan long-count calendar, I figured it was time for a countdown enlightenment.

To decide my 2012 list, I came up with a list of 315 songs: the 100 from the 2009 countdown and 215 contenders. I played songs 101-315 against each other in a round-robin format, so each song “played a game” against every other song on the 101-315 list, receiving either a win or a loss. Here’s an example of how it went down, on a much smaller scale: 

Let’s say I have a list of five songs, and I wanted to decide my order of preference:

• 1.       Song A
• 2.       Song B
• 3.       Song C
• 4.       Song D
• 5.       Song E

I would start by “playing” Song A against the field. Thus, I would start with Song A and say “do I like Song A better than Song B?” If the answer is “yes”, then Song A gets a tally in the win column and Song B gets a tally in the loss column; “no” and it takes an L while Song B gets that dub-sack.  I would then move down the list and say “do I like Song A better than Song C?”…and so on down to Song E. Then Song A would be finished and have five decisions. 

Say it looks like this after one rotation (getting my gymnastics terminology on!):

• Song A- 3-1
• Song B- 0-1
• Song C- 1-0
• Song D- 0-1
• Song E- 0-1

In this example, Song A has gone 3-1 by beating Song B, Song D and Song E and losing to Song C.

Next, I would move to Song B and say “do I like Song B better than Song C?”- there is no need to say “do I like Song B better than Song A?” because that has already been decided. Say it now looks like this after two rotations (pommel horse coming up next):

• Song A- 3-1
• Song B- 1-3
• Song C- 2-0
• Song D- 0-2
• Song E- 1-1

Song B didn’t fare as well as Song A, losing to Song C and Song E and only beating Song D; this in addition to already losing to Song A during Song A’s rotation. This process would continue for each of the remaining songs. The song with the best record moves to the top of the list, the song with the worst record dwells in the cellar, and everything in between. Once I finished with 101-315, the songs with the 100 best records moved on to the final round of 200, and I repeated the process (I actually added another song after the cut to 200, so it turned out to be 201). Songs at the top of the list before round-robin play begins have a considerable advantage, because I’m comparing that song to the next one on the list, while listening to the song that I’m putting into play. But that song should have an advantage, because it was on the top of my head to begin with, and once you get to that second cut and are dealing with 1-201, the previous No. 1 song should have the edge as the reigning champion.

As you can surmise, this takes a long frickin’ time- try six months- but it also takes less time as you go down the list, because there are fewer and fewer wins and losses to hand out. If that’s too confusing, too bad; I can’t really explain it better than that. 

Methodology out of the way, let’s get to the countdown. I will do this list in ten-song installments. Ready?

100. Bush- Machinehead (genre: hard rock… first listen: Summer 1996… position in 2009 Top 100: 49)

This song made it by a half-game over “Master Thesis” by Canibus. It was a half-game because there were a few ties, and when there were ties in or on the cusp of the Top 100, I played tiebreaker games between or amongst the songs in question (there were five-way ties a couple of times), doing it much in the same format as I did to decide the overall order. But anyways, this song barely held on to its Top 100 position. I’m pretty sure this was a song in the low-70s in 2005 and mid-60s in 2007 before jumping to the top half of the countdown in 2009. Despite its slip, I still consider this a classic- I have more than 7,600 songs on my iPod, so if a song makes the Top 100, it’s in the top 1.3 percent of songs that I for the most part like. It’s a true one-percenter!

Nothing beats mid-90s alternative rock besides good hip-hop and house from the turn of the century. Still, I love mid-90s rock. This song was on those famous Top 20 countdowns hosted by the great Daisy Fuentes, I’m pretty sure. Gavin Rossdale is the man, and I’m not sure there was a better music couple than him and Gwen Stefani. MAYBE Andre 3000 and Erykah Badu, but I’d still take the No Doubter and Bush head in that match-up.

99. De La Soul- Ooh (Ft. Redman) (genre: hip-hop… first listen: Fall 2000… position in 2009 Top 100: 53)

I’m going to show my relative youth here: This song was my introduction to De La Soul. Yeah, I was late on De La. Like “Machinehead”, this song took a serious step back in my countdown, but also like “Machinehead”, this song is a beast. I love this song so much that I didn’t even pay attention to the racial slur directed to Mexicans in this track until one of my friends pointed it out like nine years after the fact. The line in question is “work hard like wetbacks”. Yeah, coming from De La, I didn’t really expect that. Oh well, I’m not going to let one line take away from the overall greatness of this cut. I’m not excusing it, but I’m not going to penalize it for a poor choice of a term (please, let's not get into another discussion about how racist this song is or isn't, but I'm prepared for it). The music video is pretty tight too- has a Wizard of Oz feeling to it.

98. Cru- Just Another Case (Ft. Slick Rick) (genre: hip-hop… first listen: Summer 2005… position in 2009 Top 100: didn’t qualify)

I was about 10 years late on this song; just happened into it late one night watching MTV Jams, back when MTV Jams had 0 infomercial interruptions and it was just music videos and Buttah Man hosting some game between a fan and a rapper; the fan would get tube socks win or lose. Oh yeah- it’s called “Hood Fab”, and the theme song beat sounded pretty much like “Rubber Band Man”, probably because David Banner produced both tracks to my knowledge.

Back to the song- as soon as I heard it, I immediately went to the family computer (this was before I had a laptop) and downloaded that bad boy off KaZaA (yeah, remember KaZaA?). Actually check that- I’m pretty sure it was Limewire. Either case, I didn't obtain the track in a legal fashion. But don't worry feds, I have purchased the track off iTunes since.

I forgot about the song for a while before it officially became a part of the Dannaman rotation. The beat in this song is so good that it took me six years to realize that I had an edited version of the song. In fact, it wasn’t until I started working on the 2012 version of the Top 100 that I had this realization.

Hella East Coast ‘90s feel to it, and Slick Rick drops a gem of a guest verse (though he is not in the music video- I think he was in jail at the time). But this song is really made by the first two verses and the interplay between the MCs in Cru and their masterful storytelling. 

97. Lamb- Transfatty Acid (Kruder & Dorfmeister Mix) (genre: chillout electronia… first listen: January 6, 2009… position in 2009 Top 100: didn’t qualify)

Yes, I remember the exact day I got this track. I was driving back up to Stanford for the start of winter quarter, looking none too forward to the next ten weeks at all. Literally as I pulled up to campus, this song started to play and I’ve been transfixed ever since.

I absolutely love Lamb in three songs, this being the only one that made the countdown (the other two being “Heaven” and “I Cry”, which were in the Top 315). She has a great voice, and if she has a good producer behind her, it’s an eargasmic combination. Kruder & Dorfmeister are the biggest hit-or-miss duo there is- they can come up with some horrible ish where they don’t even try to make a melody and go for some atmospheric sound that totally doesn’t work, or they can be pure genius. This song is the latter. The first version I had of this song- off a Best of K&D compilation- had a bit too much of the former in it, but luckily I got a Café Del Mar compilation that had a 90 second shorter version of this song and got rid of a good bit of that K&D clutter (the one posted is the long one- deal with it).

This song was one of the last 10-15 to make the 200 cut on the countdown, but really came on strong in the final round of cuts. Kudos to Lamb and K&D, for whatever that’s worth.

96. Spooks- Things I’ve Seen (genre: hip-hop… first listen: Spring 2000… position in 2009 Top 100: 86)

This song is off the soundtrack for the Laurence Fishburne-directed flick Once in the Life, which is a pretty good movie. I saw this music video on BET one day and copped the CD single on my next trip to Tower Records (back when I bought CD singles, because they were less likely to have the Parental Advisory sticker on ‘em). The Spooks did their namesake right on this cut, creating an eerie mood for a serious track. The verses are tight, the female vocals on the hook are beast, there’s not much else to say besides the fact that this song used to be in my Top 40 on my first few countdowns, maybe even Top 30, but it has dropped off a bit since.

95. Reks- Science of Life II (Ft. Alius of OVM) (genre: hip-hop… first listen: Fall 2004… position in 2009 Top 100: 84)

Reks is that dude, man. He is one of a few MCs whose albums I will cop unheard, and I believe I have all of his major releases (supposedly he is dropping his second album of 2012 pretty soon, or maybe it’s already out). He fell off the face of the Earth for about five years and then came back with a bang, releasing like four or five albums in the last four years or so. Statik Selektah and Termanology really resurrected this dude’s career.

“Science of Life II” is off Reks’ first album Along Came the Chosen, which is an amazing CD. This song would be higher if Reks rapped all three verses in this cut; nothing against Alius, but Reks is just a ton better. The beat is one of those ones that just makes you reminisce and reflect, and the female vocals on the chorus are to die for.

94. Summer Junkies- I’m Gonna Luv U (genre: early ‘90s dance/house… first listen: Early-mid ‘90s or Early 2000s, can’t really remember… position in 2009 Top 100: didn’t qualify)

It literally took me five years to find this song; this is one of a few songs like that on this countdown, all of them in the house genre. This song will take ya back- it uses that semi-famous “Moments in Love” sample by Art of Noise that you’d have a decent chance of recognizing and just has that Renee in the Midday from Wild 94.9’s Wild Workout at Noon feel to it. If you listened to Wild 94.9 back in like 2000 or so, you know what I’m talking about. Best listened to on a Friday afternoon.

93. Mr. Scruff- Get a Move On (genre: instrumental chillout electronica/lounge… first listen: Early 2000s… position in 2009 Top 100: didn’t qualify)

I’m pretty sure this is making a return to the countdown, but I don’t have much of a way of checking on that because all I have on this laptop is my 2009 countdown. I could check the message boards of this one wrestling website I used to go to all the time because I posted a couple of them there (what up TPWW?!); maybe I’ll get back to you on that.

This song was featured in a Lincoln Navigator commercial that Jeff Garcia starred in. I love lounge-y melodies, and this one fits the bill, but perhaps its most redeeming quality is its use of the vocal sample: “You gon’ have to keep movin’; you gon’ have to keep movin, boy. You gon’ have to keep movin’; you gon’ have to keep movin, boy. You gon’ have to keep movin; you gon’ have to keep movin’, boy. You gon’ have to keep movin’… Or you’ll be left behind.”

It is chopped, mixed and mashed so beautifully and in so many different ways in this song, and that is why Mr. Scruff is hotter than Mims. 

92. Jedi Mind Tricks- Blood Runs Cold (Ft. Sean Price) (genre: hip-hop… first listen: Fall 2004… position in 2009 Top 100: didn’t qualify)

This song was my introduction to both Jedi Mind and Sean P. All three verses by Sean Price, Jus Allah and Vinnie Paz are super legit and the beat is a total head-nodder. It’s all in the vocal sample in a beat, people, or at least in this song. This is one of those songs that makes you feel elevated, like you’re listening to this song from your throne, looking out into vastness of your empire, pondering some Aramaic equations. I should probably purchase the album this is off- Violent by Design- but I probably won’t. After getting Visions of Gandhi, which sounds like it would be an awesome album off the title but it really isn’t, I don’t think I can take Jedi Mind for 20-plus tracks, even if Stoupe is on every beat.

91. Cranberries- Zombie (genre: rock… first listen: 1996… position in 2009 Top 100: 29)

And it was probably higher than 29 in the past. Despite the slide of 62 spots, I doubt this song will leave the countdown anytime soon. Who can forget the harrowing lyrics and haunting hook to this cut? As one of my friends pointed out, this song is about the conflict in Northern Ireland and pulls very few punches. The music video is amazing to boot, back when music videos were more than Illuminati imagery and actually had a message.

Alright, stay tuned for 90-81, which will be posted whenever I feel like writing it up and then posting it.