Top Ten Music Bloghop

From Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog comes the Top Ten Music Bloghop. Please visit all of these blogs to see our wonderful community music tastes in action.

Okay! How to pick just ten songs? This seems crazy, because I live and breathe music. I love so many songs that I couldn't even begin to describe them to you. It's even worse to imagine trying to describe why I love each song, as most of what I love about them simply cannot be put into words. Well, here goes...

1. Black Dog by Led Zeppelin -- Led Zeppelin's fourth album was the first music to catch my full attention as a young boy of 3. I had heard music before, of course, but this was the first time I ever listened to the music and consciously thought about it and loved it. I love this whole album, but the sound of Jimmy Page warming up his guitar at the very beginning has stuck in my mind ever since. A close second is the amazing drum intro to the second track, Rock & Roll. Not on this album, No Quarter is my favorite Zep song.

2. Get Back by The Beatles -- After Led Zeppelin kick started my passion for music, The Beatles quickly became my first true love. I could listen to Zep IV forever, but I could listen to the whole Beatles catalogue and never get tired! I love so many Beatles songs that I won't bore you by listing them, but this one always held a special place in my heart. The driving beat is addictive in a beautiful way.

3. The Council of Elrond by Enya -- I am not a huge Enya fan, but this one song (my own edited version that cuts out the long musical interlude after the lyrics stop) is so gorgeous and sweeping that it sits way ahead of all other songs atop my Most Played list in iTunes (and it's not even close). When I am in the mood for beautiful, I sometimes put this one on a loop and play it over and over again. It doesn't hurt that it is about Lord of the Rings, which is my favorite book ever.

4. Memories of Green by Vangelis -- This is my favorite piece of music from one of my all-time favorite albums, Vangelis's Blade Runner soundtrack. I love the movie and I love the music from the movie, and so should you all! The only flaw in the album is that it is lacking the song Main Titles & Prologue, which is my second favorite after this one. Get the album and track down Main Titles (which should be track one) and you have a perfect set of music to play when you want to lie on the couch (or sit at your computer) peacefully and be swept away by beauty.

5. Time by Pink Floyd -- As a kid I foolishly thought that I could be forever content to listen and be loyal to nothing but Zeppelin and Beatles. How silly we are when we are kids! The soaring guitar solo in this song brought on my love affair with the amazing music of Pink Floyd, which led to me starting to play guitar. I spent the next several years learning to play all of my favorite Floyd and Zeppelin songs.

6. New Year's Day (Live at Red Rocks) by U2 -- Similar story to the above. Hearing this ringing, glorious anthem got me hooked on U2 before most people (at least in my area) had heard of them. I spent several years listening to almost nothing but them.

7. Pinball Wizard by The Who -- The guitar on this song always blows me away, and I am always amazed that I somehow never really heard The Who as a kid. I guess it is the fault of my parents. They have so many other great songs besides this one, such as Behind Blue Eyes and Baba O'Riley.

8. Searching With My Good Eye Closed by Soundgarden -- The song that started me down my heavy rock kick. I actually first heard it live, when Soundgarden was the opening act for Guns n Roses, and I thought Soundgarden stole the show. I edit off the silly intro and have it fade in with the devil scream, but the slow, heavy dropped-D riff at the beginning is one of my favorites.

9. Father and Son by Cat Stevens -- I heard the amazing Tea For the Tillerman album many times as a kid, but it took several years for me to realize how much I really loved it, and this is my favorite song on an album where every song is fantastic.

10. Alive by Pearl Jam -- The glorious opening riff introduced me to a new band that I instantly loved and have never let go of (I even went to England this past summer to see them in concert). I love other Pearl Jam songs more than this one (In My Tree, Unthought Known, Tremor Christ, Green Disease, Yellow Ledbetter, etc.), but this one started it.

*Sigh* There is no way I can leave it there and be true to myself. I simply must add on a few others.

11. Right in Two by Tool -- The song Aenima was the one that hooked me on this amazing, heavy band. Metal music with soaring vocals like I had never heard before! This is my favorite song, though many others are close.

12. Thomas by A Perfect Circle -- This one follows directly from Tool, as the singer is the same for both bands. This is my favorite song from their first album, but there are so many other great songs by APC, such as Magdalena, Sleeping Beauty, Blue, and Thinking of You.

13. Plush by Stone Temple Pilots -- The song that introduced me to STP, which had the best two albums of the 90's, in my opinion. I flew all the way to London in 1994 to see them in concert.



I'll end with this album, Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, because though no individual song beats my favorites above, the entire album is so wonderful and beautiful that no one should miss it. Kathy's Song, Homeward Bound, El Condor Pasa, The Boxer, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Scarborough Fair Canticle...heck, every song on this is great!

It hurts to leave off so much great music. I keep thinking of more and more...Don't Fear (The Reaper), Panama, I'd Love to Change the World, Layla, Hey Joe, Band on the Run. Agh! Somebody stop me!