I don’t believe in top 10 lists, generally. If a song or movie or book is great, you should hear it or see it or read it, regardless of whether or not it is anyone’s top 10 list.

Still, it is useful sometimes to have a list of “essentials”. These are works of art that almost certainly will prove rewarding, if you haven’t yet experienced them. You could argue all day and all night about whether “Citizen Kane” is #1 or #10 on your list of all-time great movies, but few people would dispute that it is very worth seeing.

So granted that valuations and rankings have very limited value, they do have that one particular virtue.

A few years ago, in 1992, the London Free Press published a list of the top 1,000 popular songs of the rock era. These songs were chose by a bunch of DJ’s, I believe, and reflect some bizarre criteria. What on earth is Bryan Adams doing anywhere near the top 100? And Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway” at #12? Weird!

Here’s my own list. I don’t put much significance in actual position. Do you think I care if “Like a Rolling Stone” should be first, or “Satisfaction”? The point is that both of them are great songs.

One thing I do care about: you will notice that not a single twisted, pompous, over-blown, mannerist “magnum opus”– like “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” or “Hotel California” or even “Stairway to Heaven” is on my list. Sure, these songs do have their virtues, and I can enjoy them once in a while. But great artists are economical with their material. Sometimes the greatest talent is that of knowing what to leave out. That’s the difference between the Beatles’ White Album– a disaster in many respects– and Abbey Road, a masterpiece. That’s difference between the brilliant Blonde on Blonde and the abysmal Self Portrait, both by Bob Dylan.

There’s great music in both, somewhere, but only one of each pair is a great album.

Anyway, let’s start with a list of best singles, of all time:

 

1.	I Fought the Law	Bobby Fuller Four	The greatest most complete compact piece of music ever created.  The Clash’s version is pretty impressive too, but Bobby Fuller’s lean and mean Fender strat takes the cake.
2.	Like a Rolling Stone	Bob Dylan	Lyrically and musically, a masterpiece of it’s time– a vitriolic indictment of everything superficial and phony and materialistic about our society.
3.	Suzanne	Leonard Cohen	A beautiful, moody, and mystical tribute to the essence of feminine grace.
4.	(I can get no) Satisfaction	Rolling Stones	The greatest riff in rock’n’roll.
5.	Good Vibrations	Beach Boys	I am not a fan of Brian Wilson and company, but there is more invention and musical imagination in these three minutes than there are blondes in Malibu.
6.	Eleanor Rigby	Beatles	Inspired by Bob Dylan, the Beatles raised their music to a new level with the albums Rubber Soul and Revolver.
7.	Sultans of Swing	Dire Straits	Mark Knopfler’s amazing lead guitar punctuates this crisp, driving paean to musician’s musicians.
8.	All Along the Watchtower	Bob Dylan	Or Jimi Hendrix.  Both versions are excellent, but Dylan’s is more compact and efficient.
9.	Anchorage	Michelle Shocked	Weirdly evocative punk-country tune that never ceases to tickle.
10.	Runaway	Del Shannon	During the lean years between Elvis and the British Invasion, this was one of the few marvels.
	Honorable Mentions
11.	Sweet Jane	Lou Reed
12.	Twist and Shout	Beatles
13.	Reelin’ in the Years	Steely Dan
14.	Layla	Derek and the Dominos	Okay– so it’s a bit pompous and self-indulgent.  It’s also one of the greatest guitarists ever at his best.
15.	Won’t Get Fooled Again	Who
16.	Go Your Own Way	Fleetwood Mac
17.	Thunder Road	Bruce Springsteen
18.	London Calling	Clash
19.	Norwegian Wood	Beatles
20.	Hallelujah	Leonard Cohen
21.	Psycho Killer	Talking Heads
22.	Money	Pink Floyd
23.	Me Myself I	Joan Armatrading
24.	Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend	T-Bone Burnett
25.	Heart of Gold	Neil Young
26.	Stage Fright	The Band
27.	Down by the River	Neil Young
28.	Rip in Heaven	Til Tuesday
29.	Don’t Fear the Reaper	Blue Oyster Cult	One of the most chilling songs ever recorded.
30.	Frederick	Patti Smith
31.	Lucy	Al Stewart
32.	Joey	Concrete Blonde	Hmmm.  Maybe.
33.	Criminal Under My Own Hat	T-Bone Burnett
34.	Tokyo	Bruce Cockburn
35.	This Wheel’s on Fire	Band

 

Bill’s Top Ten Albums

Whenever I do this sort of thing, I almost unconsciously start thinking, well, gotta have a woman in there, and a black, and, geez, you can’t leave out this band or that band or whatever. That’s not the right way to choose your favourite albums of all time. So I tried to simply stick to the best 40 minutes of music, period. I have also excluded collections and greatest hits albums. If I did include them, Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volume II would be the winner, hands down.

1.	Highway 61 Revisited	Bob Dylan
2.	Rubber Soul	Beatles
3.	Brothers in Arms	Dire Straits
4.	New Skin for the Old Ceremony	Leonard Cohen
5.	Harvest	Neil Young
6.	Born to Run	Bruce Springsteen
7.	Exile on Main Street	Rolling Stones
8.	Rumours	Fleetwood Mac
9.	Déjà vu	Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
10.	Music From the Big Pink	Band

Honorable Mentions:

11.	Songs of Leonard Cohen	Leonard Cohen
12.	Bookends	Simon and Garfunkel
13.	After the Gold Rush	Neil Young
14.	Blood on the Tracks	Bob Dylan
15.	Blonde on Blonde	Bob Dylan
16.	Aja	Steely Dan
17.	Ghosts that Haunt Me	Crash Test Dummies
18.	Trinity Sessions	Cowboy Junkies
19.	Songs of Love and Hate	Leonard Cohen
20.	Everything’s Different Now	Til Tuesday (Aimee Mann)

Disagree? So do I. Lists are stupid. But they get you thinking about great songs and about what makes a song great.  More importantly, they help you decide on what to load up onto your music player.