Top 10 Essential Songs

[LBSUNFLWR]

Someone I follow on Twitter answered some radio station's question to come up with your Top 10 essential songs. Very difficult. I could have done top 20 more easily. But to really narrow it down I came up with this:


Lisa's 10 Essential Songs List

1. Grateful Dead - Scarlet Begonias
2. The Black Crowes - Thorn In My Pride
3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers
4. Ryan Adams - The Hardest Part
5. My Morning Jacket - Steam Engine
6. Radiohead - Lucky
7. Bob Marley - Turn Your Lights Down Low
8. Counting Crows - Raining In Baltimore
9. The Smiths - I Know It's Over
10. Led Zeppelin - The Rain Song



Curious to see what yours would be!

[rkwedge]

Wow this is HARD. I reserve the right to edit on a daily basis. In no particular order:

1) Pink Floyd- Dark Side of The Moon, the entire album cause in the right state of mind it's one song.
2) Bob Seger- Turn the Page
3) Beatles- In My Life
4) Allman Brothers- Jessica
5) MMJ- Strangulation, the most hauntingly beautiful song ever
6) Free- Wishing Well
7) Potliquor- Cheer
8) Rolling Stones- Gimme Shelter
9) Lynyrd Skynyrd- Tuesday's Gone
10) Led Zepplin- Thank You
Alternate) Snail- The Joker

Yeah my age is showing 

[APR]

No particular order for me too:

1. Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
2. Pearl Jam - Present Tense
3. MMJ - Run Thru
4. Tool - Lateralus
5. Radiohead - Street Spirit
6. Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
7. Tame Impala - Mind Mischief
8. Soundgarden - Superunknown
9. Pearl Jam - Alive
10. MMJ - Masterplan

I didn't see any rules about not including more than one song by a band.

And yeah my age is also showing.  And I also reserve the right to edit, and I must also add that this was difficult. 

[parkervb]

wow, you guys joking about showing your age and I'm out here with Sam Cooke leading off.

Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come (culturally, as impt of a song as there is)
Beatles - Across the Universe (first melody I hear when I think of them)
Beach Boys - God Only Knows (no list should be without something from Pet Sounds)
Grateful Dead - Morning Dew (London '72 version)
Stones - Can't You Hear Me Knocking (have to incl Stones in any "essential" list)
George Jones - He Stopped Loving Her Today (the saddest song of all time)
Erma Franklin - Piece of My Heart (Joplin's version is amazing but love this one)
Bob Marley - War (as a teenager this song probably influenced my worldview more than any other single song)
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky (just as perfect of a song as I know)
Tom Petty - Refugee (just as perfect of a rock song as I know)

You may notice, no MMJ but it's hard to crack top 10 of "essential". To me that means a list of songs that reflects my own personal taste but also a list of songs that would be considered essential to understand the history of pop music in last 60 years.

[APR]

I hear you.  If I was going with something other than my essential, then artists like Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Zeppelin etc would have to make the cut.  I was thinking of making an "older" essential with Zeppelin and Petty versus "newer" with War on Drugs and Fleet Foxes making the cut.  But that could be for another thread. 

[parkervb]

I hear you.  If I was going with something other than my essential, then artists like Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Zeppelin etc would have to make the cut.  I was thinking of making an "older" essential with Zeppelin and Petty versus "newer" with War on Drugs and Fleet Foxes making the cut.  But that could be for another thread. 

that's a fun idea...essentials by decade.

[APR]

I hear you.  If I was going with something other than my essential, then artists like Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Zeppelin etc would have to make the cut.  I was thinking of making an "older" essential with Zeppelin and Petty versus "newer" with War on Drugs and Fleet Foxes making the cut.  But that could be for another thread. 

that's a fun idea...essentials by decade.

YES.  Let's do it.  The 90s will very very difficult.  One of my good friends wrote a definitive list of his own top 50 favorite bands.  He said putting it down officially on paper took weeks.

[parkervb]

the 80s will be difficult in a diametrically opposed reason from the 70s (my favorite decade of music)

[kvgq420]

Delroy Wilson- This life makes me wonder
William DeVaughn - Be thankful for what you got
Radiohead- Weird Fishes/arpeggi
Jeff Buckley- Last goodbye
Pink Floyd- Dogs
The Supremes- My world is empty without you
Talking Heads- This must be the place (live)
Shuggie Otis- Aht uh mi hed
The Heptones- Cool Rasta
Depeche Mode- Policy of truth