My top 100 songs, sans songs from albums that are in the rest of the top 100: 1 ??? ??? 2 ??? ??? 3 The Smiths-This Charming Man 4 The Who-My Generation 5 ??? ??? 6 The Beach Boys-Good Vibrations 7 ??? ??? 8 ??? ??? 9 OutKast-Hey Ya! 10 ??? ??? 11 ??? ??? 12 The Breeders-Cannonball 13 Joy Division-Atmosphere 14 ??? ??? 15 New Order-Blue Monday 16 ??? ??? 17 ??? ??? 18 Stardust-Music Sounds Better With You 19 Joy Division-Love Will Tear Us Apart 20 Buffalo Springfield-For What It's Worth 21 Franz Ferdinand-Take Me Out 22 ??? ??? 23 ??? ??? 24 ??? ??? 25 David Bowie-"Heroes" 26 Roy Orbison-Crying 27 Beck-Loser 28 The Smashing Pumpkins-1979 29 ??? ??? 30 ??? ??? 31 The Jam-Going Underground 32 ??? ??? 33 R.E.M.-Losing My Religion 34 The Knife-Heartbeats 35 ??? ??? 36 ??? ??? 37 The Kinks-You Really Got Me 38 The Rolling Stones-(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 39 ??? ??? 40 OutKast B.O.B.-(Bombs Over Baghdad) 41 Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run 42 The Verve-Bitter Sweet Symphony 43 M.I.A.-Paper Planes 44 Pulp-Common People 45 The Velvet Underground-Sweet Jane 46 The Rapture-House of Jealous Lovers 47 LCD Soundsystem-Losing My Edge 48 ??? ??? 49 Michael Jackson-Billie Jean 50 Soft Cell-Tainted Love 51 Hercules and Love Affair-Blind 52 The Smiths-How Soon is Now? 53 ??? ??? 54 ??? ??? 55 Caribou-Odessa 56 Sam Cooke-A Change is Gonna Come 57 ??? ??? 58 Violent Femmes-Blister in the Sun 59 MGMT-Kids 60 ??? ??? 61 New Order-Temptation 62 Happy Mondays-Step On 63 Jay-Z-99 Problems 64 ??? ??? 65 Billie Holiday-Strange Fruit 66 Marvin Gaye-I Heard It Through the Grapevine 67 The Walkmen-The Rat 68 ??? ??? 69 ??? ??? 70 ??? ??? 71 ??? ??? 72 ??? ??? 73 ??? ??? 74 ??? ??? 75 Nirvana-All Apologies 76 The Four Tops-Reach Out (I'll Be There) 77 Public Enemy-Fight the Power 78 ??? ??? 79 ??? ??? 80 The Flaming Lips-Do You Realize?? 81 Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg-Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang 82 Elvis Presley-Suspicious Minds 83 ??? ??? 84 The Who-Won't Get Fooled Again 85 ??? ??? 86 ??? ??? 87 Massive Attack-Unfinished Sympathy 88 Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Zero 89 The Animals-House of the Rising Sun 90 Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody 91 Arcade Fire-Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) 92 ??? ??? 93 ??? ??? 94 They Might Be Giants-Birdhouse in Your Soul 95 ??? ??? 96 ??? ??? 97 The Beatles-Yesterday 98 ??? ??? 99 Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Maps 100 My Bloody Valentine-You Made Me Realize
Summary of list so far for page 2: 100 Blondie-Parallel Lines 99 The Beatles-Rubber Soul 98 Talking Heads-Fear of Music 97 The XX-XX 96 Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run 95 Jeff Buckley-Grace 94 M.I.A.-Kala 93 Nirvana-In Utero 92 Tom Waits-Rain Dogs 91 The Chemical Brothers-Dig Your Own Hole 90 LCD Soundsystem-LCD Soundsystem 89 The Cure-Disintegration 88 Bon Iver-Bon Iver, Bon Iver 87 John Lennon-Plastic Ono Band 86 Massive Attack-Blue Lines 85 Nirvana-MTV Unplugged in New York 84 Talking Heads-More Songs About Buildings and Food 83 U2-Achtung Baby 82 Kanye West-The College Dropout 81 The Rolling Stones-Let It Bleed 80 Stevie Wonder-Songs in the Key of Life 79 OutKast-Stankonia
78. Led Zeppelin-IV (1971) Favorite Song: “Stairway to Heaven” “Stairway to Heaven” would rank at #36 on my top 100.
Led Zeppelin was one of the heaviest bands in early rock and roll. Being one of the earliest bands to explore the ‘darker’ side of rock and roll, Led Zeppelin managed to find the perfect balance point between epic guitar rips and managing to create lyrics that weren’t cheesy.
Their fourth untitled album is still easily one of, if not the best hard rock album of all time. Even if you dismiss them as a ripoff band, due to their habit of taking older blues songs and using parts in their songs, they still managed to choose all the right songs to ripoff in IV.
IV starts off with the rather epic “Black Dog.” I love the way the music just cuts out. It puts so much emphasis Robert Plant’s excellent voice. It’s this wavy, groovy song that’s hard to keep up with as it seems to constantly change pace. Add in an epic guitar riff and just all around awesome instrumentation and you get Led Zeppelin at their jamming best.
“Black Dog” leads into the even more epic “Rock and Roll.” The drumming is even more intense the guitar riff is even better, and it’s just all around fun. This epic hard rock is pulled back for a folkish song with “The Battle of Evermore,” one of Led Zeppelin’s strange fantasy songs. Mainly using an acoustic guitar and mandolin, it is an excellent example of Led Zeppelin’s range of talents. They can write heavy hitters, and they can write lighter stuff at the same quality.
The final song of the first half of the album is the legendary “Stairway to Heaven.” It is quite a long song. The first time I heard it, I didn’t really see what was so great about it at first. It seemed to go endlessly at a slow pace. Then, the epic rock ending kicks in, and all the buildup and tension is released. It’s a rare song that manages to succeed at making an extended buildup and not lose it. There are few greater releases in music than the ending of this song, the only one coming close subtly using an entire album to achieve the same feeling.
Unfortunately, the second half of the album doesn’t hold as many hits as the first half. They’re all still great tracks, but they don’t have as great of riffs as their other songs do. However, the album manages to pull itself together at the end with “When the Levee Breaks.” One of their more thematically ominous tracks, “When the Levee Breaks” tells a tale of a town that will become worthless when the titular levee inevitably breaks. That opening drum is one of the most recognizable in music. It’s a slow tempo song, but it still manages to be fun throughout.
Led Zeppelin IV is the best album by one of the most talented rock acts of all time. Featuring some of the heaviest riffs of all time, it is an album that everyone should listen to at least once. The only reason it isn’t higher is probably because I’m not the biggest fan of hard rock, yet it still managed to rank highly on this list, so even not liking the genre doesn’t affect my opinion much.
I’ve always had mixed opinions on Eminem. What he offers in high quality music he seems to ruin with an obviously high level of misogyny and homophobia. Yet, even though I find some of his music uncomfortable to listen to, I still hold respect for him as an artist.
I’ve always found Eminem’s work as a portal into the mind of an incredibly troubled man. It amazes me just how much hatred one person can hold and express in their music. The Marshall Mathers shows some restraint compared to his first album, yet it still manages to be incredibly dark. And, to be honest, I honestly think Eminem has made some of the scariest work I’ve heard. After hearing some of his songs, I’m honestly surprised he didn’t kill himself back in the late 90s or early 2000s.
After a standard rap album skit opening, the album opens with an apparent satire of his own alleged misogyny. Eminem goes on a tirade about how much he hates women before ending the song stating that he’s just screwing around. This leads into “Stan,” a song that seems to directly attack these accusations. In “Stan,” an obsessed fan goes increasingly insane as Eminem doesn’t respond to him, eventually ending up killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend over his obsession. Of course, it turns out that Eminem didn’t even get them until after it had all happened. In “Stan,” Eminem attacks how people perceive him, writing about how most of his stuff is actually him joking and people just don’t understand him. “Stan” is a powerful and disturbing song, helped out immensely by one of the most memorable samplings in rap.
“Who Knew” continues his attack against his detractors, pointing out the logical flaws in their singling out of him. “The Way I Am” has him attacking those who stress him out, while “The Real Slim Shady” attacks the people who try to act like him, the people who miss what he actually stands for and represents. One of the more underappreciated tracks on the album is “Remember Me,” which features a really stressful beat.
Unfortunately, this is another front-leaning album, this one largely caused by a change in producers halfway through. The songs become less interesting, with the highlight being “Kim,” an incredibly disturbing story about Eminem wanting to kill his ex-wife.
The Marshall Mathers LP is a great, honest look at how fame can affect someone. The amount of stress Eminem was going through at the time is evident in almost every track, and it creates an experience like no other. Where most major, depressed artists seem to concentrate their energy into sadness, Eminem uses it to lash out in anger. While there were plenty of angry white men in the music industry in the early 2000s, Eminem was the one who stood out as real, and The Marshall Mathers LP was him at his angriest.
76. Daft Punk-Discovery (2001) Favorite Song: “One More Time” “One More Time” is #24 on my top 100 songs list.
Daft Punk is one of those bands that I just find fun to listen to. There’s no deep meaning in any of their works. They’re just all catchy pieces of house music.
Discovery is their big hit of the 2000s, and where their most popular songs come from. Daft Punk added in a ton of influences from the late-70s and 80s, making a distinct mix of house and disco.
The album opens with “One More Time,” the ultimate party song of the 2000s. There’s just so much energy packed into this song. From the simplistically memorably lyrics, to the pounding drums, to that epic synth. I love the simply unrelenting use of auto-tune on this album. Where other bands use it to hide their lesser singing skills, Daft Punk uses it to make it better fit their music. It’s one of those things that shouldn’t work, yet it does so well.
“One More Time” is followed by “Aerodynamic,” the first instrumental piece of the album. After a series of bells ringing, it opens with a simply groovy beat, before being replaced with a ridiculous guitar solo. It reaches a high point where these two things from different worlds clash, a rhythm from a funk song mixed with a guitar that belongs in a heavy metal song. Then, this fades away to this electronic classical piece. It’s essentially Daft Punk showing off, but it somehow works.
This is followed by one of the other two big hits off this album, “Digital Love.” The lyrics are a traditional love song, and the whole thing feels like it comes out of the disco era. But then, near the end, one of the greatest guitar solos (of course, being a Daft Punk album, I’m not sure if it’s actually a guitar or a synthesizer, but it’s convincing enough) of the modern era. It seems strange that it takes a house band to make a memorable solo in the modern day. It’s like something you’d expect off of Boston’s first album.
This leads into the obnoxiously popular “Harder Better Faster Stronger.” This is the most lyrically simple song on the album, just repeating a few simple phrases throughout. This is another one of Daft Punk’s numerous uses of the voice as just another instrument, and this is their best use of it. With so much modulation going on, there are points in the song where the vocals seamlessly become another instrument before returning to its standard form. Add in another fun synthline, and you get another great hit by Daft Punk.
Discovery continues with a bunch of great, catchy songs, almost never quite reaching the level of the first four. However, there are two high points with the slower paced “Something About Us” and the simply catchy “Face to Face,” a song that probably should have been chosen as a single over “Aerodynamic.” There are also quite a few amazing instrumental tracks, the best being “Short Circuit,” though I do greatly appreciate the bass in “Voyager.”
Discovery is one of the great electronic albums. It works so well as its music is so relatable. They mix the new musical styles and capabilities with the attitude of the old. It’s surprising just how much things like hard rock and electronic can clash. This is one among many early 2000s albums that didn’t get anywhere near as much recognition as it deserved on release, though people soon caught on to just how original and magnificent this album was.