God the Musician

It might be said that the vast majority of music is neither exceptionally good nor exceptionally bad: most of it is merely mundane. What really matters, of course, are those songs that truly stand out - the ones that make a difference in your life.

Can a song really do that? I believe it can. This blog is a testament to those songs that have made a difference in my life, and as such have the power to make a difference in other people's lives too.

Pretentious? Well, yes. Guilty as charged... But pretentions are born of convictions. And it is my personal conviction that these are the best songs ever since Thomas Edison first scraped "Mary Had a Little Lamb" into a wax cylinder.

1. "Everyday" by Buddy Holly (1957)
2. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" by the Shirelles (1960)
3. "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore (1964)
4. "96 Tears" by ? and the Mysterians (1966)  
5. "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles (1966)
6. "Hot Burrito #1" by the Flying Burrito Brothers (1969)
7. "Lodi" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)
8. "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight and the Pips (1970)
9. "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell (1971)
10. "Thank You for Talking to Me, Africa" by Sly and the Family Stone (1971) 
11. "Curley Locks" by Junior Byles (1974) 
12. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John (1975)
13. "Marquee Moon" by Television (1977) 
14. "Brass in Pocket" by the Pretenders (1979)
15. "Funkytown" by Lipps, Inc. (1980)
16. "High School Confidential" by Rough Trade (1980)
17. "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (1981)
18. "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners (1982)
19. "Temptation" by New Order (1982) 
20. "They Don't Know" by Tracey Ullman (1983)
21. "Birthday" by the Sugarcubes (1987) 
22. "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues (1987)  
23. "Luka" by Suzanne Vega (1987)
24. "Pump Up the Volume" by M/A/R/R/S (1987)
25. "Troy" by Sinéad O'Connor (1987)
26. "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" by Public Enemy (1989)
27. "Fool's Gold" by the Stone Roses (1989)
28. "My Jolie Louise" by Daniel Lanois (1989)
29. "Being Boring" by the Pet Shop Boys (1990)
30. "Groove is in the Heart" by Deee-Lite (1990)
31. "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" by P.M. Dawn (1991)
32. "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows (1994)
33. "All that I Got is You" by Ghostface Killah feat. Mary J. Blige (1996)
34. "Born Slippy .NUXX" by Underworld (1996)
35. "Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space" by Spiritualized (1997)  
36. "Präludium" by Jay (1997)
37. "Ojos Asi" by Shakira (1999)
38. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue (2001) 
39. "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z (2003)

If your particular take on the nature of the universe happens to include God, it just might be that you can find the Big Man himself located somewhere within these particular tracks.

Note: I also keep a blog devoted to the worst songs ever: the yang to this blog's yin. Its hall of shame smells like this:

1. "Johnny Get Angry" by Joanie Sommers (1962)
2. "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys (1965)
3. "Iko Iko" by the Dixie Cups (1965)
4. "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles (1968)
5. "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap (1968)
6. "Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow" by Funkadelic (1970)
7. "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson (1971)
8. "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin (1971)
9. "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry (1972)
   
10. "Squeeze Box" by the Who (1975)
    
11. "Lay Down Sally" by Eric Clapton (1977)
12. "Dreadlock Holiday" by 10cc (1978)
13. "No One is Innocent" by Ronnie Biggs and the Sex Pistols (1978)
    
14. "What's Your Name?" by Depeche Mode (1981)
    
15. "China Girl" by David Bowie (1983)
16. "Born in the U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen (1984)
    
17. "Illegal Alien" by Genesis (1984)
18. "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer (1985)
19. "Tears are Not Enough" by Northern Lights (1985)
20. "Walk of Life" by Dire Straits (1985)
21. "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News (1986)
    
22. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin (1988)
23. "I Love You" by Vanilla Ice (1990)
    
24. "Barbie Girl" by Aqua (1997)
25. "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani (2005)
26. "We are the World 25 for Haiti" by Artists for Haiti (2010)