Not really sure if there will be much interest here as I don't think folks here share most of my musical tastes, buuuuuut I put a ridiculous amount of thought and effort (I first decided to make this list back in 2013... (I have a thing with lists...)) into compiling this list so I thought I'd share. So below is my Super Duper Official 100 All-time Favorite Songs list. The only rule I had for the list was that I could only put 2 songs by the same artist on the list.

In case anyone is crazy enough to want to try and actually listen to the list, I put together a convenient YouTube playlist and that has all of the songs in order. You can check that out here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAAphq_hPEX5lSfsYB6QVmOGpNyh_y7iZ

And if anyone else wants to to try and share a similar list (doesn't have to be 100 if you don't want!), feel free to.


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yov's 100 All-time Favorite Songs

100 - PJ Harvey-Meet Ze Monsta (1995)
99 - John Cale-Hallelujah (1991)
98 - Foo fighters-This is a call (1995)
97 - Ben Folds Five-Evaporated (1997)
96 - David Bowie & Queen - Under Pressure (1981)
95 - Built to Spill-Velvet Waltz (1997)
94 - Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping (2007)
93 - The Velvet Underground-Rock & Roll (1970)
92 - Violent Femmes - American Music (1991)
91 - Arcade Fire-Headlights Look Like Diamonds (2002)
90 - The Cure-Fascination Street (1989)
89 - Jimmy Eat World-Sweetness (2001)
88 - Korn - Got The Life (1998)
87 - Beastie Boys-Sabatoge (1994)
86 - Led Zeppelin-Your Time Is Gonna Come (1969)
85 - New Order-Age of Consent (1983)
84 - Dan Deacon-Slow With Horns - Run For Your Life (2009)
83 - Phish-Reba (1990)
82 - The Replacements - Androgynous (1984)
81 - The White Stripes-Fell in Love With a Girl (2001)
80 - Pixies-Where Is My Mind (1988)
79 - Bob Seger - Hollywood Nights (1978)
78 - The Postal Service-Natural Anthem (2003)
77 - Animal Collective - Street Flash (2008)
76 - Broken Social Scene-Lover's Spit (2002)
75 - Charles Mingus - Solo Dancer (1963)
74 - R.E.M-Radio Free Europe (1981)
73 - Aesop Rock-None Shall Pass (2007)
72 - F**ck Buttons-Surf Solar (2009)
71 - DJ Shadow-Napalm Brain-Scatter Brain (1996)
70 - Wolf Parade-Same Ghost Every Night (2005)
69 - Built to Spill-Carry the Zero (1999)
68 - Juan Luis Guerra-Carta de Amor (1991)
67 - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson-Buriedfed (2008)
66 - The Velvet Underground-Sweet Jane (1970)
65 - The Flaming Lips-They Punctured My Yolk (1995)
64 - The Smashing Pumpkins-Today (1993)
63 - The Decemberists-Shiny (2003)
62 - U2 - Bullet the Blue Sky (live from Rattle and Hum) (1988)
61 - R.E.M-Strange Currencies (1994)
60 - The Flaming Lips-The Abandoned Hospital Ship (1995)
59 - The Cure - Friday I'm In Love (1992)
58 - PJ Harvey-Long Snake Moan (1995)
57 - Led Zeppelin-Hey Hey What Can I Do (1970)
56 - Explosions in the Sky-The Moon Is Down (2001)
55 - Joanna Newsom-Peach Plum Pear (2004)
54 - Hum - Stars (1995)
53 - Liars-The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (2006)
52 - Sigur Rós-Olsen Olsen (1999)
51 - Nina Simone-The Other Woman (1959)
50 - The Mountain Goats-No Children (2002)
49 - Bubba Sparxxx-Ugly (2001)
48 - Jay-Z-Heart of the City (Ain't No Love) (Live Unplugged) (2001)
47 - Queen-Somebody to Love (1976)
46 - Thom Yorke-All For The Best (2009)
45 - Etta James - At Last (1960)
44 - Ben Folds Five-Selfless Cold and Composed (1997)
43 - Liars-A Visit from Drum (2006)
42 - Deerhunter-Heatherwood (2006)
41 - The Knife-We Share Our Mothers' Health (2006)
40 - Pixies-Debaser (1989)
39 - The Dave Brubeck Quartet-Take Five (1959)
38 - Tom Waits-I Don't Wanna Grow Up (1992)
37 - Beastie Boys-So What'cha Want (1992)
36 - Bright Eyes-False Advertising (2002)
35 - Eminem Feat Dr.Dre - Forgot About Dre (1999)
34 - Live-White Discussion (1994)
33 - Andrew bird-fake palindromes (2005)
32 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-In This Home of Ice (2005)
31 - The Doors-L.A. Woman (1971)
30 - Bright Eyes-At the Bottom of Everything (2005)
29 - Iron and Wine-Passing Afternoon (2004)
28 - Ramones - Baby I Love You (1980)
27 - The Hives-Hate to Say I Told You So (2000)
26 - Juan Luis Guerra-Como Abeja Al Panal (1989)
25 - Sigur Rós-Untitled III (2002)
24 - Ray Charles-Georgia on My Mind (1960)
23 - The Fiery Furnaces-Chief Inspector Blancheflower (2004)
22 - LCD Soundsystem-Yeah [Crass Version] (2002)
21 - The Books-Tokyo (2003)
20 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood (2005)
19 - Dan Deacon-The Crystal Cat (2007)
18 - LCD Soundsystem-Losing My Edge (2002)
17 - Azealia Banks-212 (2012)
16 - Nirvana-The Man Who Sold the World (1993)
15 - U2-Where the Streets Have No Name (1987)
14 - Animal Collective-Banshee Beat (2005)
13 - Joanna Newsom-Inflammatory Writ (2004)
12 - Nine Inch Nails-Closer (1994)
11 - Neutral Milk Hotel-Two-Headed Boy (1998)
10 - Jeff Mangum - I Love How You Love Me (2001)
9 - The Decemberists-Clementine (2002)
8 - The Rolling Stones-Shine a Light (1972)
7 - Tool-Forty Six & 2 (1997)
6 - The Mountain Goats-The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton (2002)
5 - Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (Live version from “What Happened, Miss Simone?”) (1967)
4 - The Rolling Stones-Sweet Virginia (1972)
3 - Radiohead-Creep (1993)
2 - Radiohead-The National Anthem (2000)
1 - Neutral Milk Hotel-Ghost (1998)

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I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

I commend your ability to make such a list. I don't think I could ever, not without simply listing out 90% of my music library and half of my youtube bookmarks. There are some songs I don't care for as much as others, but I would find it a painfully impossible task to try to narrow down my music selection to a top X number list. Or books, or movies... my 'favorite' usually depends less on the song and more on my mood when I want to listen to something, so it would constantly be shifting my favorites list lol

_________________
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

Actually, I would listen to that playlist at work some night, so it is officially on my to-do list.

I could totally see myself doing this, particularly when I want to procrastinate about something else that I should absolutely be doing but do not want to do.

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That’s what I was thinking too, Lali!

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*title copyright: Teremia

'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude

I will say, I was delighted to see Sigur Rós on your list, Sæglópur is one song that would have to be on any list of mine -

_________________
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

Sigur Ros are one of those bands I bounced off hard. Can't see the attraction!

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The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End

Since I'm a nerd who likes spreadsheet, I decided to make a chart to graph the years of the songs. The oldest song on the list goes back to 1959, the most recent from 2012. Roughly 50% of the songs are between 1995-2005. This coincides with me being 15-25. While some may think that it's typical that the bulk of my favorite songs come from this formative age period when most people are developing their tastes, it is actually because that decade was, objectively the best time for music. Historians will refer to this time period as The True Golden Age of Music.

_________________
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

I would love that, and to hear any notable opinions on anything you hear, both good or bad. Sometimes, the "how can you like that mess??" reactions are as fun as the positive ones.

And very glad to provide fun new ways to procrastinate.


I'm definitely a Sigur Ros fan. That song is glorious. I actually surprised myself with what ended up being my top pick for them, Untitled III, since it's just a simple little instrumental piece. Several of my choices surprised me, actually, which was fun.


Al, I totally get them not being your thing but you can't deny the guy has an amazing, striking voice!

_________________
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

A friend of mine is doing this same list and when looking over his list, we noticed that his list had way way more female artists than mine did. I decided to see how many women were on my list and it's a pitiful 11 out of the 100 (and that's counting 3 songs where the girl is sharing the song with a guy):

Arcade Fire-Headlights Look Like Diamonds
Azealia Banks-212
Etta James - At Last
Joanna Newsom-Inflammatory Writ
Joanna Newsom-Peach Plum Pear
Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (Live from What Happened, Miss Simone?)
Nina Simone-The Other Woman
PJ Harvey-Long Snake Moan
PJ Harvey-Meet Ze Monsta
The Fiery Furnaces-Chief Inspector Blancheflower
The Knife-We Share Our Mothers' Health




This kinda bums me out a bit but I guess I'm just biased to prefer male voices/aesthetics. Certainly not a conscious thing but it is what it is.

Do you think your favorite music is made predominantly by one gender, or would your list end up more balanced?

_________________
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

I would imagine my favorites to be skewed (not to that degree) male only because there do often seem to be more male artists.

But I enjoy a great number of songs by female artists, groups, or groups which feature female leads or co-leads. There's Enya, Maire Brennan, Loreena McKennitt, Medieval Baebes, Faun, Lumsk, Garmarna, Gjallarhorn, Farida Khanam, Head and the Heart, of Monsters and Men, Ani DeFranco, Fleetwood Mac, Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer, Imogen Heap, Yael Naim, Sia, Nelly Furtado, Enigma, Loituma, M.I.A., Sinéad Lohan, Blackmore's Night, Fairpoint Convention, Eurythmics, Mystic, The Fault Lines...

I would keep going but I should really get back to work



edit to add: I can't let ABBA go unmentioned...
Crap, or Tracy Chapman!

See, I can't even let a non-definitive list go unedited!

and Sheryl Crow...

_________________
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

Just for fun, I went the list and did some counting just to see if there was any overlap.

3 songs I know and like
0 songs I know and hate
2 songs I think I heard before
27 songs where I am familiar with the artist but can't recall this particular song. Includes artists I only know by reference and may not have actually heard.
68 songs I've never heard and don't recognize the artist

Is yov a hipster or am I?

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Dark have been my dreams of late.

Oh goodness, only 3? I don't expect people who don't follow alt-rockish stuff since the 90s to be familiar with most of my list but there's still a decent few big radio hits in there I would expect most people to be familiar with! Which are your 3 "know and like"?

el - I want to see a list from you!

_________________
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

What I want to know is how did Etta James and Nina Simone slip in there?

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In gratitude forever … .

By being awesome.

(Nina is an all-time favorite. I own more of her music than almost any other artist.)

_________________
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

(I doubt I could make a list ranking [or even limited to] 100 Grateful Dead songs, let alone other artists that I love.)

_________________
In gratitude forever … .

I am still working on mine, believe it or not. I am interested in seeing the balance of male/female artists on it. I predict it will skew male, but that might be because of what elengil said—there are just more male artists/lead singers of bands. If I made a list of top artists, however, I think it might be more balanced. ?? For example, on my top song list, there are probably one-hit songs for me for that artist. However, my top artists list would be more indicative of what I prefer to listen to on a regular basis, with artists whose songs, in general, I listen to in bulk. But I'd have to create that list to see for sure.

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Exactly!!

At best I can make a list of "Here are a lot of artists I really really like! I like a lot of their songs, such as..." with the disclaimer "artists/songs not listed are not presumed to not be liked, possibly only forgotten. My brain can only hold so much at once."

_________________
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

Don't worry, my list rules were that you can only pick your 2 favorite songs per artist. That should make it much easier, right??

_________________
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

Maybe for you!

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In gratitude forever … .

**skims through yov's list.

**sees Bright Eyes

You're awesome. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

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When you can do nothing what can you do?