iPod Madness

Over the last few days, I've come up with a few new playlists for my iPod and my iTunes library on my PC. It had been a while since I had created any lists. Lately, I've mostly been listening to music by artist or by album, but I felt like it was time to add a little variety.

For my first list, I wanted to select good solid quality tracks, but not limit my choices by too many rules. I didn't include any classical, of course, but a few show tunes crept in (e.g., Patty Lupone singing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita) and some jazz, too (Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis). I did stop myself after ten Beatles tracks made the cut, and decided no other artist would get nearly that many.

I had titled this playlist "A Few Favorites." After I finished going through my music library and making selections, I checked to see how many I had picked. It turns out that my few favorites number 595 tracks. Well, I wanted variety.

For my next effort, I decided that NO ONE, not even the Beatles, would get multiple tracks. Also, I decided that for the purposes of this list only music that fit the pop music genres (including rock, folk, R&B, blues and the like) would be considered. Show music and jazz, as well as anything classical, will be dealt with in future lists.

I called the new list "Best of the Best," and when I was finished it included a still too high 191 tracks.

Finally, this evening, I decided to pare the "Best of the Best" down to an even 100, all by different artists, which I naturally call the "Top 100." This is not to say that I am characterizing my list as the greatest 100 rock/pop songs ever or anything. I wouldn't even say I necessarily picked the best song from each artist. It's just the 100 songs by the 100 artists that most appealed to me when I was going through what was available on my iPod.

Without further ado, here is the "Top 100" playlist that I will be listening to from time to time on my iPod (alphabetically by artist):

Melissa (The Allman Brothers Band)
The Weight (The Band)
Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)
A Day In The Life (The Beatles)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult)
Changes (David Bowie)
Fountain Of Sorrow (Jackson Browne)
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley)
My Back Pages (The Byrds)
Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash)
Taxi (Harry Chapin)
Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)
With a Little Help from My Friends (Joe Cocker)
Viva la Vida (Coldplay)
Farewell To Tarwathie (Judy Collins)
School's Out (Alice Cooper)
Veronica (Elvis Costello)
Ode to My Family (The Cranberries)
Badge (Cream)
Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) (Jim Croce)
Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
Gimme Some Lovin' (The Spencer Davis Group)
Layla (Derek & The Dominos)
Listen To The Music (The Doobie Brothers)
Light My Fire (The Doors)
Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
Hotel California (The Eagles)
Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
O-o-h Child (The Five Stairsteps)
The Chain (Fleetwood Mac)
Baby, I Love Your Way (Peter Frampton)
What's Going On? (Marvin Gaye)
Radar Love (Golden Earring)
Friend Of The Devil (Grateful Dead)
American Woman (The Guess Who)
All Along the Watchtower (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
The End Of The Innocence (Don Henley)
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (The Hollies)
Mony Mony (Tommy James & The Shondells)
Funk #49 (James Gang)
Somebody To Love (Jefferson Airplane)
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel)
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Elton John)
Me & Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin)
Dust In The Wind (Kansas)
Stand By Me (Ben E. King & The Drifters)
Jazzman (Carole King)
Greenback Dollar (Kingston Trio)
A Well Respected Man (The Kinks)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Imagine (John Lennon)
Canadian Railroad Trilogy (Gordon Lightfoot)
Danny's Song (Loggins & Messina)
Darling Be Home Soon (The Lovin' Spoonful)
Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Monday, Monday (The Mamas & The Papas)
No Woman No Cry (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell)
Question (The Moody Blues)
Caravan (Van Morrison)
All The Young Dudes (Mott The Hoople)
Love Hurts (Nazareth)
Still The One (Orleans)
Simply Irresistable (Robert Palmer)
The Last Thing On My Mind (Tom Paxton)
Rolling Home (Peter, Paul & Mary)
Don't Do Me Like That (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
Amie (Pure Prairie League)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
Right Down The Line (Gerry Rafferty)
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding)
Can't Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon)
Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones)
When Will I Be Loved (Linda Ronstadt)
Oye Como Va (Santana)
The Girl You Think You See (Carly Simon)
The Boxer (Paul Simon)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
Streets Of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen)
Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
Wild World (Cat Stevens)
July, You're A Woman (John Stewart)
Reason To Believe (Rod Stewart)
Sweet Baby James (James Taylor)
The Things We Do For Love (10cc)
Hold On Loosely (.38 Special)
Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic)
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree (KT Tunstall)
Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)
Baba O'Riley (The Who)
Frankenstein (Edgar Winter)
Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder)
Roundabout (Yes)
The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young)
Hasten Down The Wind (Warren Zevon)
Tush (ZZ Top)

While I said that no artists have more than one track in this list, there are a few individuals who appear more than once. John Lennon is here as a solo artist as well as with the Beatles. Similarly, Don Henley, Paul Simon and Neil Young are all here as solo artists and as members of The Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel and CSNY, respectively. Eric Clapton is here in both Cream and Derek and the Dominoes, David Crosby in both The Byrds and CSNY, Graham Nash in both The Hollies and CSNY, and Steve Winwood in both The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. The champion, with three appearances, is Joe Walsh, included as a solo artist, with the James Gang and with The Eagles.