My Top 100, No. 4: "Freedom '90" by George Michael

I've got an intellectual appreciation for so many of these songs, but "Freedom '90" is just so much the fuckin' jam it makes me regret wearing out the phrase "the fuckin' jam" on so many lesser songs throughout this project.

A while back, a friend of mine moved away for a year and started showing up in Facebook pictures with a girl, whom he never said anything about until he got back. When asked who she was, he just giggled nervously and said, "Well, she's the light of my life." And that's pretty much how I feel about "Freedom '90," as songs go.

My Top 100, No. 5: "Make Our Garden Grow" by Leonard Bernstein

"Make Our Garden Grow" was the second movement of my high school's marching band show when I was a sophomore, and boy oh boy is it so much better with an orchestra and a choir than with a high school marching band.

I have the same problem picking apart Bernstein as Beethoven--this is way more complex than, say, a Gwen Stefani song, and I just don't play on that level. So I'll do the best I can to explain why I like this song so much.

My Top 100, No. 6: "Steal My Sunshine" by Len

This song has gone down, upon 16 years' reflection, as something of a joke, and by accepting that label, we do ourselves an unfathomably grave disservice.

"Steal My Sunshine" is a historical relic, a portal through which we can look back at the moment of greatest potential in American history, and wonder what life would be like if we hadn't thrown it all away.

My Top 100, No. 7: "Waltz #2 (XO)" by Elliott Smith

This song is slow and dark and it is a jam. I mean, it is not a jam, per se, but it is a fuckin' jam.

First of all, it's in 3/4. Because it's a waltz, you see. And waltzes are in 3/4. 

My Top 100, No. 8: "Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, 2nd Movement" by Ludwig van Beethoven

This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.

I'm glad there aren't any other instruments or vocals to this song, because adding anything to it would just drown out the perfect sadness.

My Top 100, No. 9: "Alone" by Heart

I love me a good power ballad, and what a power ballad this is.

There are two kinds of song that we really don't make the way we used to: power ballads and slow-dance songs, and our society is poorer for it.

My Top 100, No. 10: "Behold the Hurricane" by The Horrible Crowes

Two and a half years ago, when I started this blog and thought I'd update it regularly, this was the first song I wrote about.

It's a great song. The music is straightforward, but necessarily so, and the lyrics are just close to perfect in tone, form and fit.