I’ve been listening to my own brand of music since the early 70’s. Dozens of songs have marked memorable periods in my life and dozens of others songs have stuck out to me. I’ve ebbed and flowed with music but seem to gravitate to a small group of tunes I could listen to non-stop. Music has a way of making us happy.
The photo with this post is me in 1978. My mom bought me the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack. I was listening to it on my console stereo/8-track player. Gotta love the bean bag chair, 45’s, cement weight set, genie lamp, yarn slippers and super cool headphones.
Many songs take me back to a moment in time while others just make me smile. Some of these I can’t even put my finger on, I just enjoy them. These are NOT the songs I think are the best of all time, just songs I’d listen to over and over again or ones that transport me immediately to a happy time in my life.
Imagine you’re going to be a castaway on a deserted island and you luckily have a music player with unlimited batteries. You could be marooned on this island for years. Which 100 songs would you load onto your device knowing they would be the only ones you’d listen to for the rest of your life? Which songs inspire you? Which ones motivate you? Are there songs that make you sad?
Here are the top 100 songs that I’d put on the play list of my life. There are definitely many more but these are the ones that seem to mean something to me at this stage of life. I will most likely update this list as the years go by. These are in no particular order.
1. I Melt For You – Modern English
2. If You Leave – OMD
3. Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas
4. Jurassic Park Theme – John Williams
5. One Headlight – Wallflowers
6. Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
7. Love You ‘Till the End – The Pogues
8. Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
9. Roll With The Changes – REO Speedwagon
10. Time of Your Life – Greenday
11. I Was Wrong – Social Distortion
12. Get Right Back – Army Navy
13. Somewhere Over The Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
14. I Will Survive – Cake
15. Stand By Me – Ben E. King
16. Shame on You – Indigo Girls
17. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
18. Praan – Garry Schyman
19. Soak Up The Sun – Sheryl Crow
20. Bohemian Like You – The Dandy Warhols
21. There’s No Goodbye… Only Love – James Horner
22. Dog Days Are Over – Florence + The Machine
23. Feeling That Way – Journey
24. Come Sail Away – Styx
25. No Rain – Blind Melon
26. Tainted Love – Soft Cell
27. Waltzing Along – James
28. Goodbye Girl – David Gates
29. Come Clean – Hilary Duff
30. 3AM – Matchbox 20
31. More Than A Feeling – Boston
32. Be Somebody – Boyce Avenue
33. Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield
34. Don’t You Forget About Me – Simple Minds
35. Suspicious Minds – Dwight Yoakum
36. Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty
37. End Credits from Cast Away – Alan Silvestri
38. Against All Odds – Phil Collins
39. Keep Pushin’ – REO Speedwagon
40. Fox On The Run – Sweet
41. Our Lives – The Calling
42. I Want You To Want Me – Cheap Trick
43. Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
44. Blinded By The Light – Manfred Mann
45. If I Ever Leave This World Alive – Flogging Molly
46. Pretty In Pink (Acoustic) – Psychedelic Furs
47. Sorry – Nothing But Thieves
48. California Dreamin – Shaw Blades
49. Laid – James
50. What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes
51. Sympathy For The Devil – Rolling Stones
52. You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
53. Thank You For Being A Friend – Andrew Gold
54. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
55. Taking Care Of Business – BTO
56. Sunshine On My Shoulders – John Denver
57. She Sells Sanctuary – The Cult
58. American Pie – Don Mclean
59. Years From Now – Dr. Hook
60. Hotel California – The Eagles
61. Stairway To Heaven – Led Zepplin
62. Telephone Line – ELO
63. Harden My Heart – Quarterflash
64. Missing You – John Waite
65. Monkey Wrench – Foo Fighters
66. December, 1963 – Four Seasons
67. Bakers Street – Gerry Rafferty
68. Some Kind Of Wonderful – Grand Funk Railroad
69. I Can See Clearly Now – Jimmy Cliff
70. Happy Days Theme – Pratt & McClain
71. I Came For You – Manford Mann
72. Can’t Let You Go – Rainbow
73. Suicide Is Painless – Mandel and Altman
74. Canon D – Pachelbel
75. Like A Rolling Stone – Michael Hedges
76. Halloween Theme – John Carpenter
77. Want You Bad – The Offspring
78. Bad Romance – On The Rocks
79. Still The One – Orleans
80. Time In A Bottle – Jim Croce
81. Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis
82. She Sheila – Producers
83. Round and Round – Rat
84. Tell Me What You Want – Zebra
85. Stupid People – The Refreshments
86. Ridin’ The Storm Out – REO Speedwagon
87. Take Your Mama – Scissor Sisters
88. All For You – Sister Hazel
89. When Angels Sing – Social Distortion
90. Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show
91. Santeria – Sublime
92. Friends In Low Places – Garth Brooks
93. Panama – Van Halen
94. Dust In The Wind – Kansas
95. The Warrior Theme – Barry De Vorzon
96. Phantasm Theme – Myrow and Seagrave
97. The Sound Of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
98. Rock’n Roll All Night – KISS
99. Foreplay/Long Time – Boston
100. Coming…
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