Music Rant ... and: Top Songs of All-Time?

Well I thought that me and Stephen King were alone in a vacuum proclaiming American Idiot by Green Day to be the album of the year, but looks like Grammy thinks it might be too. Nice to see it get a few nods, though honestly who really cares about the grammy's? Music is so subjective, who is anyone to say what someone should or shouldn't like. That being said, I have a few bands that I simply hate as a matter of principle. And it is kinda awkward since many friends of mine are really into these bands. Well, I may as well offend as many people as possible and just say for the record that one band I (as do countless others) simply can't stand is Dave Matthews Band. Just hearing a song by them gets me angry. I think that a huge part of the reason for that is that so many fans of this band are basically preppy assholes who thought they were somehow cool in high school for putting DMB '98!!!!!! on their yearbook pages. It goes to show you the kind of people that are into the band when every summer in CT, the Dave concerts have more arrests and incident than any other. I can see people getting out of hand at say, a Metallica concert, but it's kind of pathetic that Dave Matthews of all people inspires teens and twenty-somethings to go to his concerts and get into trouble. Yep, there are of course many perfectly nice, unassuming Dave Matthews fans out there, but I would say that this band has gotta have, in general, the worst, most annoying fans of almost any other group out there. And to top it all off, their music is somehow considered (mostly by these fans) as being inherently superior. The same attitude is held by fans of other annoyingly artsy bands like Radiohead and yes, even The Grateful Dead. To these pretentious fans of such bands, I say get off your high horse and try some music with GENUINE EMOTION in it that moves you in some way rather than evoking hordes of spoiled rich kids wearing sandals and tie-dyed shirts and too-old baseball caps. But then again, music is subjective, like I said, so, though my dislike for these bands probably won't change anytime soon, everyone is entitled to their opinion. And speaking of opinions, how about Rolling Stone's new list of the 500 greatest songs ever? Interesting read, to say the least (it kept me occupied during my long flight back from LA). They seemed to have ignored most of the 90's and gone a little overboard with the Beatles and Rolling Stones love, but I do commend them on their choice of Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone as their number one pick. When I was in London last spring, this song became my apartment's theme, and my guitar-wielding suite-mates often broke this classic out for some group sing-a-long sessions that made me appreciate this song for the classic it is. I was surprised that some classic rock bands like Styxx, Meatloaf, and Rush were left off the list entirely. You'd think rock epics like Come Sail Away or Paradise By The Dashboard Light might be somewhere on the list. I also though that some all-time great bands like Queen and Tom Petty seemed under-represented. Also, the nineties seemed very conspicuously absent, with Weezer getting a token mention with Buddy Holly (definitely not their best song) and Nirvana having a few scattered entries (notably cracking the top 10 with Teen Spirit). Finally, the rap entries seemed inconsistent. Run DMC, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, and one or two others were listed, but they seemed hesitant about whether or not rap would be fully represented as a genre on the list. If so, where were Snoop, Notorious BIG, and other influential names? And dammit all, give some love Jesse's Girl, that's gotta be, what, like at least 400 ... right?

So, here's my own personal top100 (yep, 100!) songs. Now I have always respected the Beatles, Stones, and Dylan, but I never really got into them as others have, so you won't find Dylan or the Beatles on here. I also (as you can probably tell) don't mind songs that some might consider, um, cheesy (Poison anyone?). So with that in mind here's my list. I probably forgot to include a lot of stuff and I'll probably look back on this and ask what in de blue hell was I thinking, but here ya go: Danny's Personal Top 100 All Time Rock Songs:

1. Dream On - Aerosmith
2. Sweet Child of Mine - Guns N' Roses
3. Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty
4. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
5. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
6. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepellin
7. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
8. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
9. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N' Roses
10. Another Brick in The Wall (Part 2) - Pink Floyd
11. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
12. Highway to Hell - AC/DC
13. I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones
14. Enter Sandman - Metallica
15. Jeremy - Pearl Jam
16.Come Sail Away - Styxx
17. Crazy Train - Ozzy Ozbourne
18. Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones
19. Keep On Rockin' In the Free World - Neil Young
20. Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones
21. End of the World as We Know It - REM
22. In Bloom - Nirvana
23. One - Metallica
24. Teenage Wasteland - The Who
25. London Calling - The Clash
26. Lola - The Kinks
27. Loser - Beck
28. Still Loving You - The Scorpions
29. Evenflow - Pearl Jam
30. Walk This Way - Aerosmith / Run DMC
31. Fight For Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys
32. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
33. Living On a Prayer - Bon Jovi
34. Master of Puppets - Metallica
35. Amazing - Aerosmith
36. Freefallin' - Tom Petty
37. Dazed and Confused - Led Zepellin
38. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses
39. Peace of Mind - Boston
40. Paradise By the Dashboard Light - Meatloaf
41. Thriller - Michael Jackson
42. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
43. Basket Case - Greenday
44. The Sweater Song - Weezer
45. Detroit Rock City - Kiss
46. Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
47. Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
48. For Whom The Bell Tolls - Metallica
49. Come As You Are - Nirvana
50. Angel - Aerosmith
51. Back in Black - AC/DC
52. November Rain - Guns N' Roses
53. My Name is Jonas - Weezer
54. Photograph - Def Leppard
55. Fallen Angel - Poison
56. Poison - Alice cooper
57. In The Name of Love - U2
58. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
59. Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty
60. Tom Sawyer - Rush
61. We Are The Champions - Queen
62. Spirit of Radio - Rush
63. Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols
64. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard
65. Hotel California - The Eagles
66. Bad Moon Rising - Credence Clearwater Revival
67. Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
68. The Rooster - Alice in Chains
69. Self Esteem - The Offspring
70. Rocket Queen - Guns N' Roses
71. Layla - Cream
72. Panama - Van Halen
73. Bullet With Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins
74. Love in An Elevator - Aerosmith
75. Trippin' On A Hole in A Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots
76. God Save the Queen - The Sex Pistols
77. Free Will - Rush
78. Money For Nothing - Dire Straits
79. Rock You Like A Hurricane - The Scorpions
80. Epic - Faith No More
81. Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin
82. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
83. All I Really Want - Alanis Morissette
84. Mr. Roboto - Styxx
85. Sweet Dreams - The Eurythmics
86. Losing My Religion - REM
87. Sabatoge - The Beastie Boys
88. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
89. Baba O'Reilly - The Who
90. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
91. School's Out - Alice Coooper
92. House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
93. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? - REM
94. More Than A Feeling - Boston
95. Radio Ga Ga - Queen
96. Iron Man - Black Sabbath
97. Eat the Rich - Aerosmith
98. We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
99. Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
100. Won't Be Fooled Again - The Who