Writeups on my favorite 20 songs of all time

A list of songs by itself isn't too terribly revealing, I've realized. Since it's a blog about me and my thoughts, and since i would LOVE to ramble on about my love for these songs, I wrote a bit on each song and why they mean so much to me.

20. "Dance With the Devil" - Immortal Technique
A perfect description of evil and sin. Immortal Technique tells the best story I've ever heard in a song here, and it's absolutely bone-chilling. It's in my favorite songs list because it's so damn good, but I wish a song like this had no power, because it gets its power from the fact that it's true. Maybe this specific story isn't true, but a lot of variations of this stuff happens around the world, all the time. And that scares the crap out of me.

19. "All I Want For Christmas Is You" - Mariah Carey 
If you ever want to put a smile on my face, put this song on. This song is the musical equivalent of snugging up with my significant other next to a fireplace in the middle of the Christmas season, with my friends and family laughing it up and having a good time around us. Not only does this song invoke my absolute favorite time of the year, it puts a warm feeling in my heart that nothing else could top. 

18. "My Girls" - Animal Collective
My life anthem. I'm so damn pissed that Animal Collective wrote this song before I could, this song is ALL FREAKIN' ME. I was rockin' these lyrics in my head long before I had ever heard this song.

17. "Sleep" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor 
Best musical description of nostalgia and longing, both which are emotions that resonate strongly with me. Refer to my writeup on "Storm," it's basically the same thing here. So many emotions, so many musical orgasms had with this song, and the album it comes from.

My top 20 favorite songs of all time

Of course, this stuff is always changing, but at the moment, I'm thinking #1-15 are pretty solidly locked in.



20. "Dance With the Devil" - Immortal Technique
19. "All I Want For Christmas Is You" - Mariah Carey
18. "My Girls" - Animal Collective
17. "Sleep" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
16. "Con Te Partiro" - Andrea Bocelli
15. "What's Going On" - Marvin Gaye
14. "Stand By Me" - Ben E. King
13. "Johnny B. Goode" - Chuck Berry
12. "A Love Supreme, Pt. 1: Acknowledgment" - John Coltrane
11. "Hallelujah" - Leonard Cohen
10. "God Only Knows" - The Beach Boys
9. "What A Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong
8. "Unchained Melody" - The Righteous Brothers
7. "Your Hand In Mine" - Explosions in the Sky
6. "Storm" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
5. "Family Business" - Kanye West
4. "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape" - Underoath
3. "Only In Dreams" - Weezer
2. Pachelbel's Canon in D
1. "Everything" - Lifehouse


Honorable mentions:

"Archangel" - Burial
"Consequence" - The Notwist
"A Day in the Life" - the Beatles
"The World At Large" - Modest Mouse
"Fight Test" - The Flaming Lips
"Jesus, Etc." - Wilco
"American Pie" - Don McLean

my political views

that dot is me.

those dots are important people.

The 2000s: Music, part 2. (single tracks, and top albums)

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TRACKS OF THE DECADE:

(if i wrote for a music magazine that shared my music taste. trying to be objective. based on popular appeal, critical appeal, how influential a song is, how indicative a song is of the general trends in music during the decade, what the 2000s will likely be remembered for, and for GENERAL AWESOMENESS.... etc.)

30. "Heartbeats" - The Knife
29. "Since U Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson
28. "Chicago" - Sufjan Stevens
27. "Clocks" - Coldplay
26. "Love Story" - Taylor Swift
25. "Clint Eastwood" - Gorillaz
24. "B.O.B." - Outkast
23. "Crazy" - Gnarls Barkley
22. "Maps" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
21. "Toxic" - Britney Spears
20. "My Girls" - Animal Collective

Music of the 2000's: Favorite 25 albums. (#25-1)

Revised (version 2). A little more accurate, I feel. this list sits a little better with me.

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25. Hold On Now, Youngster... - Los Campesinos! (2008)


This is a golden slice of hipster pop that really helped me through some oddly angsty-times in my sophomore year of college. The song "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks" really sticks out in my mind and helped me through that time. It's really weird too, because this album is pure pop goodness, but it was able to help me through some serious angst. It doesn't make sense, but what in life does?

Highlights: Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks, You!Me!Dancing!

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24. Fearless - Taylor Swift (2008)


Taylor Swift may have single-handedly re-established my faith in mainstream pop music. Her music embodies everything I want music to be. It's authentic, there's a real person expressing real emotions, real fears, real hopes behind it. It's catchy, she has the musical maturity of an artist who has been writing pop songs all her life. I may not be a teenage girl, so I can't perfectly relate with everything she expresses here, but when music is done this well, I can't help but sit back and admire. "Love Story" is a contender of song of the decade, in my eyes.

Highlights: Love Story, Fearless, Tell Me Why, Forever & Always

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Music of the 2000's: Honorable Mentions

Maybe it's because I've seen a bunch of "Best of 00's" music lists that I don't agree with, or maybe it's because I've seen those lists at all, and it made me start thinking about it. But, I actually compiled a list of my 25 favorite 00's albums.

Seeing as how these are albums i like, I will write a small tidbit about each of them, detailing something about the music, or how it impacted me/how i related to it. I'm thinking it won't really feel like work, so I should get this done by 2010.

I'll do each of them in 5 album installments, so 5 installments after this.

But, here are the 2000's albums that missed the cut, but I would feel bad to not mention them. Thus, the honorable mentions (30 of them, if i counted correctly).


Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Fireproof - I soooo want this.

Fireproof is a 2008 Christian movie that's basically just for Christians. I'd find it hard to believe that a non-Christian could get anything out of this movie, to be honest. But enough of that, I already wrote a review of this movie on my Flixster, so I'm not really gonna try to go into the actual movie too much. I'd much rather use this window to write about what this movie is helping me to realize... which is the point, right?

The more and more I learn about the true nature of romantic relationships, the more increasingly blessed I feel about never having been in one (LOL LOSER ATTEMPTING TO JUSTIFY HIS LACK OF GAME). No, but seriously. In the past, whenever someone commented that I was "so lucky" to have never been in a relationship before, I was always uncertain of how to react. But I have a better comprehension of what they're referring to (if they're not straight up calling me a loser, that is.)

Relationships look like scary things: there's so much at stake.