These are a few of my favorite songs

Well, I finally did it. My best attempt at narrowing my music collection down to my top 100 favorite songs. Well, I got down to 101. My initial plan was to go for my ultimate top 25 songs, but I don’t think I can do that. I might be able to narrow the following list down to a top 40 or so, but that would seriously limit the diversity of the list. See, one thing I was going for was for on the list was to represent a cross-section of my music tastes. Like I said, this list is My 101 Favorite Songs, not necessarily The 101 Best Songs of All Time. While there is no doubt a ton of overlap between the two, there is a difference. For one, no one can argue with this list because they are my favorites (but please do argue anyway). But also, while there may be some songs left off this list that I think are better than some on this list (very rare if it is the case), I went in the direction to have a variety. I mean I could probably come up with a top 100 composed soley of Green Day, Eminem, Queen, 2pac, Tom Petty, and Michael Jackson. But that wouldn’t be as fun. Think of it this way: If I were on a deserted island, I think I could be pretty happy if I had these 101 songs with me (in alphabetical order by artist):

	Artist	Song
*	2pac	Hit 'Em Up
*	2pac	Changes
*	2pac	California Love
	2pac	Picture Me Rollin'
	2pac	Dear Mama
*	2pac	Ghetto Gospel
*	AFI	The Prayer Position
	AFI	God Called in Sick Today
	Alicia Keys	Fallin'
*	Alicia Keys	Why Do I Feel So Sad
*	The Assembly	Never never (Remix)
*	Bach	Air On The G String
*	Boondock Saints	Boondock Saints Main Theme
*	Carly Simon	Let ther River Run
	Citizen Cope	Bullet and a Target
	Collective Soul	The World Below
*	Concrete Blonde	Joey
	The Cynic Project	Matrix ][
*	Derrick and the Dominoes	Layla
*	Digital Underground	Freaks of the Industry
*	Dire Straits	Sultans of Swing
*	Dr. Dre	Nuthin' but a "G" Thang f. Snoop
*	Dr. Dre	Still D.R.E.
*	Eminem	White America
*	Eminem	Business
	Eminem	Sing for the Moment
	Eminem	Never Enough f. 50 Cent
*	Eminem	Encore f. 50 Cent and Dr. Dre
	Eminem	Stan
*	Eric Prydz	Call On Me
	Fleetwood Mac	Thunder Only Happens When It Rains
	Frank Sinatra	Theme From New York New York
	Goldfinger	Don't Say Goodbye
*	Green Day	Jesus of Suburbia
	Green Day	Holiday
	Green Day	Having a Blast
*	Green Day	Welcome to Paradise
*	Green Day	When I Come Around
	Green Day	86
*	Green Day	J.A.R.
*	Green Day	2000 Light Years Away
	Green Day	Christie Road
	Jay-Z	Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)...
	Jay-Z	Renagade (Feat Eminem)
	The Jazz Butcher	Bicycle Kid
	The Jazz Butcher	Girls Say Yes
	Johann Pachelbel	Canon in D
*	John Lennon	Imagine
	John Williams	Terminator 2 theme
*	John Williams	Jurassic Park - Main Theme
	Jonathan Richman	I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar
*	Kanye West	Never Let Me Down f. J Ivy, Jay-Z
	Kelly Clarkson	Because Of You
*	The Knack	One Day At A Time
	Led Zeppelin	Fool In The Rain
	Led Zeppelin	All My Love
*	Led Zeppelin	Stairway To Heaven
	Mamas & the Papas	California Dreamin'
	Mamas & The Papas	Make Your Own Kind Of Music
	Marvin Gaye	Sexual Healing
	Michael Jackson	Man in the Mirror
	Michael Jackson	The way you make me feel
	Michael Jackson	Thriller
	Michael Jackson	Beat It
*	Michael Jackson	Billie Jean
	Michael Jackson	Human Nature
	Midnight Oil	Blue Sky Mine
	Midnight Oil	Forgotten Years
	Nick Lowe	Cruel To Be Kind
*	NOFX	The Decline
	The Offspring	Gotta Get Away
*	Piano - Michael Nyman	The Heart Asks Pleasure First
	Pink Floyd	Time
	Pink Floyd	Money
	Protein	Passing By
	Puff Daddy & The Family	I'll Be Missing You feat. Faith Evans and 112
*	Queen	Under Pressure
*	Queen	Killer Queen
	The Rubinoos	Hey Rita
	The Rubinoos	Hit The Nerve
	The Rubinoos	No More Where She Came From
	Saves The Day	Nightingale
	Saves The Day	Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
	The Shangri-Las	Leader of the Pack
	Shania Twain	It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing
	Simple Minds	Don't You Forget About Me
*	The Skeletons	It's The Little Things
*	Smashing Pumpkins	Tonight, Tonight
	Snoop Dogg	Who Am I (What's My Name)?
	Snoop Dogg	Ain't No Fun
	Social Distortion	Dear Lover
	Social Distortion	Don't Drag Me Down
	Spin Doctors	Two Princes
	The Standells	Dirty Water
	Sublime	What I Got
	Talib Kweli	Just To Get By (Remix) f. Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes
*	Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	American Girl
*	Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	Breakdown
	Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	Learning To Fly
	Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	Mary Jane's Last Dance
*	Warren G and Nate Dogg	Regulate

As I mentioned, I could probably narrow the list further, and those songs marked with an asterisk (*) are the ones that would probably move on. Those are the songs that, without a second thought, are definitely in my top 50 songs of all time. The process of making this list was a long one. I came up with the plan about a year ago. First, I narrowed my entire music library of about 7000 songs (at the time) down to about 2000. Basically just the better 1/3 or ¼ of my music. And it was done in a relative way. I.e. for the most part, I would look at artists or album individually, and pick off the songs that I felt were above the others. Then I didn’t do anything for about 6 months. Then I narrowed this list down to roughly 750, and this list down to roughly 250. Again, to make it easier on myself and to preserve diversity in the list, I would narrow the list on a somewhat relative basis. Then, I didn’t do anything for about another 6 months. These breaks were not part of the plan, but I just did not find the time to put in the effort required. But I digress. From here, it wasn’t too hard to pick out the songs that I could say with a good amount of confidence are my favorite songs of all time. There are some arbitrary choices for songs on the bubble, and some songs left off the list will probably be mad at me, but all in all I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got.

A few notes on specific songs:
-I’m not sure if some songs, like “What I Got” by Sublime should be on there. I think (not positive) there are songs not on the list that I like better. But I figured Sublime needs to be on this list because they are one of my favorite bands of all time. And “What I Got” is probably my favorite song of theirs.
-Some songs on the list—among them “Never Never” by the Assembly and “Let the River Run” by Carley Simon—are undoubtedly deserving, but only rose to that rank as a result of my mom or dad playing them a lot throughout my childhood.
-There are some cases, like Pink Floyd, where the following problem arose: Im not positive if either “Time” or “Money” should be in My Top 101 Favorite Songs. Definitely close if not in there. But I like those songs equally. Seriously, I cant decide which one I like more. So I could not justify taking out one of them without taking out both. And I certainly could not justify a list with no Pink Floyd on there (just like Sublime), so they both remain.
-Finally, there may be some songs that deserve to be there, but they are relatively new (at least to me), so they have not had a chance to stand the test of time. Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys” is the exception to this, as I like it and listen to it so much these days, I couldn’t help but put it on there.

So there you have it.