68. Graduate by Third Eye Blind

"Graduate" by Third Eye Blind

Written by Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan
Produced by Eric Valentine and Stephan Jenkins
Released on Third Eye Blind (March 26, 1997)
Released as a single in August 1997
amazon spotify iTunes
Warning: Explicit Lyrics

Initially I wasn't convinced that I actually liked Third Eye Blind. "Semi-Charmed Life" was all over the radio. It was catchy and probably a little too poppy for my tastes at the time. I, of course, realize now that "Semi-Charmed Life" is awesome. At the time, however, I was still too caught up in the idea that my musical tastes somehow defined who I am as an individual. I still wanted to protect my fragile sense of what it meant to be me. I finally came around to Third Eye Blind when they released their music video for "Jumper." At that point I purchased their album on CD. I then learned that "Graduate" was one of their songs too. I had enjoyed hearing "Graduate" on the radio, but hadn't realized who it was by. It was much harder and more aggressive than their other stuff.

Now fast forward about 20 years, and I'm trying to put together my list. I wasn't set on including "Graduate," but it was definitely in contention. As I was converting playlists and stuff over to Spotify, I noticed something odd about this song. The version included with the album on Spotify was different from what I remembered. It's still the same song, but the arrangement is all weird. I thought maybe I was remembering things wrong, but the version on my CD was the one I always remember listening to. I then found that version attached to a greatest hits album on Spotify, so that was what was added to my playlists and ultimately, this top 100.

Now I have to wonder, why did Third Eye Blind change the version on the album for streaming services? "Graduate" was not a successful single for them, but it is still one of their more recognizable songs.

I ended up wondering if this was a result of the fabled Mandela Effect. For those of you unfamiliar, the Mandela Effect is a term used to note a shared "memory" that many people have that turns out to be false. Apparently lots of people thought they clearly remembered Nelson Mandela dying in prison, only to discover that he was in fact very much alive when he was released and elected president of South Africa. I do not suffer from that version, but I can relate to the throngs of people that for years thought the beloved family of bears they read about as children were named Berenstein Bears. Turns out their name has always been spelled Berenstain with an "a."

People love to account for this by making wild accusations about time travel. They think that somehow someone changed the past resulting in a present that doesn't quite match up with what we remember. Of course, what we are really experiencing is the fact that the human memory is often full of crap. People remember seeing, hearing, and witnessing things all the time that are unequivocally false. These are unequivocal facts: Memory is flawed and time travel does not exist.

I'm just grateful that the version of the song I remember still exists on my CD and on my hard drive and on a best of album. The new version is not the result of some errant time traveler. It is simply some stupid decision that someone made while uploading the song to various streaming services. Or maybe the band thought this other version was actually better and changed it on purpose. I don't really know. Apparently there are not enough fans of this song to write about why there are two different versions of it. All I know is that better or worse, the version I know is the version I am familiar with, and familiarity leads to comfort, and comfort leads to peace. So when I am seeking peace through listening to music, I want familiarity. That is what the correct version of "Graduate" by Third Eye Blind now means to me.

Right now, "Graduate" by Third Eye Blind is (probably) my 68th favorite song of all time.

69. Bell Bottom Blues by Derek and the Dominos

"Bell Bottom Blues" by Derek and the Dominos

Written by Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock
Produced by Tom Dowd
Released on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (November 9, 1970)
Released as a single in January 1971
Peaked at #91 on Billboard Hot 100
amazon spotify iTunes

How do I continue to try to write about these songs that have defined the soundtrack to my life at a time like this? It is a question I am increasingly struggling to answer. Or rather, I am struggling to find excuses to not blow up this whole silly project. I made a commitment to myself last year to create this list, start this blog, and write about these songs. I have already given up on the idea of completing this by my birthday in July as originally intended, but I still plan on doing the writing.

These songs mean a great deal to me. Music means everything to me. Seeing videos of protesters singing Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" was another reminder of the power and beauty of music. Music can unite us, sooth us, inspire us, and strengthen us. Music can help us mourn and help us pray; it can help us find peace and help us get amped. Music can be a powerful thing.

It's possible that "Bell Bottom Blues" is just a silly love song. No one is going to sing it at a protest. Like most of the songs on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, it was written while Eric Clapton was fighting addiction, shirking fame, and finding himself desperately in love with his best friend's wife. It's a beautiful song, and Clapton plays and sings with passion and pain. Unlike the passion and pain that has enveloped much of this country, it was a personal pain, but that does not make it any less real.

I once read that Paul McCartney was proud of the Beatles' legacy because almost all of their songs were about love. Famously, "Nowhere Man" was their first song they recorded that wasn't about love. Love songs can be incredibly powerful because love is something we all seek. We want and need love in our lives.

Ultimately, that is what is most disappointing about the news in recent weeks. The world witnessed a man murdered by the person who was tasked with protecting him. Taking another man's life like that is the antithesis of love.

All of us are seeking love and peace. Maybe not the kind of crazy passionate love that Clapton was obsessing over, but it is love. Love is the universal language. Love is the answer. Love is the royal way.

We need to figure out how to truly love one another. We need to look inside ourselves and examine who we are and what we need. We are all one. We are all human. The color of our skin, our gender, our sexual orientation, our religion: none of this really matters. Because we are all human, we all come from the same place, share the same history, share common ancestors, and live on the same planet earth. We have to find a way to live together without hating and killing each other. We have to find a way to love one another unconditionally.

While I do believe that "One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations..." I know that not everyone feels the same way. But even if you don't believe the same thing I do, we all want and are seeking peace. So no matter who is reading this, know that I do love you. I want you to be safe. I want you to find love. I want love to find you. (I also hope that that love is not married to your best friend.)

Right now, "Bell Bottom Blues" by Derek and the Dominos is (probably) my 69th favorite song of all time.

70. Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

"Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

"Over the Rainbow" - music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
"What a Wonderful World" - written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss
Produced by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and Jon de Mello
Released on Facing Future (November 1, 1993)
Released as single on November 23, 1993
amazon spotify iTunes

I'm not sure how much there is to say about this song besides that it is a beautiful performance of a medley of two beautiful songs.

My inability to write or think may be the result of how frustrated and angry I feel right now. The anger and frustration are exhausting. The exhaustion may be more a result of a lack of sleep and too much time staring at the various screens in my apartment, but the anger and frustration are certainly not helping.

I was trying to come up with something sweet and nice to write about this brilliant performance from IZ. Unfortunately, my country is both literally and figuratively on fire, so it has been hard to focus on much of anything else.

I consider myself to be an optimistic person. I do my best to see the best in others. I try to trust people when I meet them. But I grow tired, and a bit of a rant seems like the best I can do today.

I'm tired of people tolerating racism.

I'm tired of people making excuses every time our president says something stupid or incendiary. He's the president. He should know better.

I'm tired of our president's inability to apologize or reflect or grow or empathize.

I'm tired of having a president who can't be human.

I'm tired of people making excuses for why police officers are justified anytime they kill someone, especially when they kill black people.

I'm tired of the systems in place that protect the worst police officers.

I'm tired of politicians who cannot be trusted to serve their country and their fellow citizens over their own best interests.

I'm tired of having a president who has the temperament of a small child who was never told the word no.

I'm tired of news that is skewed to fit a narrative that its audience wants to hear.

I'm tired of everything in the media being perceived as only fitting a narrative its audience wants to hear.

I'm tired of being told that I live in the richest and most powerful country in the world while too many of people within our borders die in poverty.

I'm tired of those in positions of power forgetting that they are citizens too, and that all of us are created equal, and should be treated as such in the eyes of the law.

I'm tired of systems that are skewed to help the rich get richer and keep the poor and impoverished from moving up the economic ladder.

I'm tired of feeling like everything I say will be perceived as political, even when it's not.

I'm tired.

There's not much else I feel like writing. I'm sorry if I ruined your chance to listen and reflect over such a beautiful song, but these are the times in which we live.

Right now, "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole is (probably) my 70th favorite song of all time.

71. Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue

"Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue

Music by Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee
Lyrics by Nikki Sixx
Released on Theatre of  Pain (June 21, 1985)
Released as single on September 30, 1985
Peaked at #89 on Billboard Hot 100
Re-released as single in 1991
Peaked at #37 on Billboard Hot 100
amazon spotify music video 1991 music video

I have always loved music, but I first really fell in love with music in the late 1980's, when hair metal ruled MTV. My first musical loves were Bon Jovi, Poison, and Def Leppard. My brother was older, and he tended towards the heavier stuff. I looked up to him and tried to like what he was listening to, but none of it was as intoxicatingly infectious as that pop metal that I loved. I still remember buying a cassette tape entitled Heavy Metal Rules. While heavy metal made some appearances on that compilation, heavy metal was not an entirely accurate description. I figured I could impress my brother if I bought it because it had songs from Megadeath and Anthrax. It didn't impress him much because he knew that I mostly listened to the songs from Tesla and Poison. I knew they weren't really heavy metal, but I also knew what I liked.

As I grew older, I started to enjoy the heavier stuff more, but my attention was mostly pulled towards classic rock. Also, as time moved forward, and the grunge/alternative era took hold, those hair bands I had loved when I was younger either broke up or changed lineups, and they all pretty much stopped making compelling or interesting music. Hair metal was no longer cool (if it ever was).

Once I was in high school, my dad bought me a CD player. All of a sudden, those hair metal albums I had purchased as cassettes tapes weren't really worth listening to anymore. I think they all ended up in the trash. I eventually replaced some of them with CDs, but it was many years later. Through it all, only a handful of songs from that era continued to feel relevant to me.

While there are quite a few songs from that era that still find their way onto my playlists, this one song from Motley Crue is the only one that I felt had earned a place on this list. I considered a couple Bon Jovi tunes, a couple Def Leppard tunes, and one other Motley Crue song ("Kickstart My Heart"), but they didn't quite hold up against the competition. ("Signs" by Tesla, which took the previous spot, I don't really consider a hair metal song, and Tesla were barely a hair metal band anyway.)

What I'm getting at here is that so many of those songs that helped me first fall in love with music just didn't last. So congrats to Motley Crue for keeping my attention 30 years later. Good job!

Like most of Motley Crue's good songs, this was written primarily by bass player Nikki Sixx (in this case, with a helping hand from drummer Tommy Lee's skills on the piano). I first remember hearing this song when they re-released and remixed it in 1991 with a new music video for their best of album. Sometime after I became familiar with the song, I caught the original video on MTV. I remember the VJ introducing it by mentioning that back in 1985 it had been the most requested song on their old Dial MTV show. It makes sense because in addition to it being a fantastic song, the original video is one of those classic hair metal era videos that is a collection of scenes from their tour and live shows. Those videos were always the best and most memorable from that time. (Other great ones include: "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard, "I Won't Forget You" by Poison.)

Using footage from a tour is a magical formula for music videos that is still used today. It works because it gives the viewer a taste of life on the road and life in the spotlight. Some of my fondest memories from high school and college are from those times surrounding performances, concerts, and tours. Working so closely for an extended period of time with a group of people like that always seems to lead to great fun. It's not always smooth sailing, but I mostly remember the good parts, much like the good parts that are documented for these videos. I never partook in the extreme decadence that many of these touring rock musicians were famous for, but the videos generally steered around that stuff anyway. Getting just that brief glimpse of what it must be like to be in a hugely famous band has become strangely nostalgic and inspiring for me. And that's part of the reason why...

Right now, "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue is (probably) my 71st favorite song of all time.

72. Signs (live) by Tesla

"Signs (live)" by Tesla

Written by Les Emmerson
Produced by Dan McClendon
Released on Five Man Acoustical Jam (November 13, 1990)
Released as single in November 1990
Peaked at #8 on Billboard Hot 100
amazon spotify music video
Warning: Explicit Lyrics

For years, I thought that Tesla had started the whole "unplugged" fad in the early 90's with their Five Man Acoustical Jam album and its top 10 single, "Signs." For me, the timeline in my head made sense since I had seen the video for "Signs" on MTV before I knew that MTV Unplugged existed. That was the history I remembered, Tesla made a live acoustic album, and MTV reaped the benefits.

It turns out the timeline actually went something like this:

• September 1989 - Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora perform an acoustic duet of "Livin on a Prayer" and "Dead or Alive" at the 1989 VMAs.
• November 1989 - The first episode of MTV Unplugged TV show airs.
• Summer 1990 - Tesla performs and records a series of acoustic shows
• November 1990 - Tesla's live album Five Man Acoustical Jam and single "Signs" are released. 
• April 1991 - LL Cool J does MTV Unplugged (and I become aware of its existence)

So, things were a little bit different from what I remember, and the internet remains undefeated in its battle against my flawed memory. It's humiliating. But, even though Tesla were not the first band to do something acoustic, the success of both their acoustic album and "Signs" certainly paved the way for other acts to seek money, fame, and glory by going acoustic.

While I enjoy listening to a number of songs from Tesla's catalog, there is a reason that "Signs" is Tesla's most successful and most recognizable song. It's awesome, and the fact that it's awesome is impressive considering that on its own "Signs" is not a very good song. It was originally written and recorded by the Five Man Electrical Band and their original recording was pretty terrible.

"Signs" is ultimately a protest song, but I still don't quite understand why they were protesting signs. I mean, signs are typically a big part of most protests. It is almost certainly a flawed concept for a song. While the lyrics tell an interesting story, the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the verses are inconsistent, and there's not much of a melody until you get to the hook. Overall, the song is a complete mess.

Somehow Tesla took an uninspired and uninspiring song and made it fun, interesting, and memorable. By performing and recording it live, they made the "Signs" swing by playing it fast and loose (literally). They also got the crowd into a song that most of them had probably never heard by throwing a few f-bombs into the lyrics. (I didn't realize they had done this until years later when I bought the album because before that I'd only heard the radio edit.)

As a band, I find Tesla kind of fascinating. The short version of their origin story makes them sound like they were just another hair metal band: They came up in the 1980's out of California. While they did play hard rock and sport long hair, Tesla didn't fit into the same mold as most of those other California bands. First of all, they didn't come up through the clubs on the Sunset Strip in LA. Rather they grew up in Sacramento. While I don't know much about California, I do know that Sacramento is physically, spiritually, and metaphorically about as far as you can get from LA without leaving California altogether. But as a California band in the 80's, even though they didn't quite look or sound like many of their hair metal colleagues, they were often lumped in with them. As a result, they faded away in the 90's once grunge and alternative rock hit the mainstream.

To me though, I was happy to listen to "Love Song" and "Signs" alongside musical offerings from Bon Jovi, Poison, and Motley Crue, and it seemed just as natural to listen to "Song and Emotion" and "What You Give" while also listening to Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden.

Right now, "Signs (live)" by Tesla is (probably) my 72nd favorite song of all time.

73. Ecstasy by Rusted Root

"Ecstasy" by Rusted Root

Music by Rusted Root (Michael Glabicki, Liz Berlin, Jim Donovan, Patrick Norman, John Buynak, Jenn Wertz, Daniel James "Jim" DiSpirito)
Lyrics by Michael Glabicki
Produced by Bill Bottrell
Released on When I Woke (August 23, 1994)
amazon spotify music video

In 1996, TriStar released a film directed by Danny DeVito called Matilda, which was based on a novel of the same name by Roald Dahl.

Roald Dahl changed my life. For most of my childhood, I avoided reading. It was not fun for me, and I did not understand why all books were not illustrated. My brother, on the other hand, would do everything he could to read. He began reading novels when he was four and never stopped.

In 1990, my family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut so that my older brother could attend a prep school where my father was taking over as food service director. I began my 5th grade year at the local public elementary.

My teacher that year loved reading and poetry. I can still recite "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost after being required to memorize it that year, and someone in that classroom suggested I check out a book by Roald Dahl. The first book of his that I picked out was Danny, the Champion of the World, and something connected for me. That year, I read almost every Dahl novel. I tried other books as well, and found quite a few that I enjoyed, but Dahl will always be first. (A close second goes to Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series.)

The reason I bring this up is that the Matilda film adaptation featured Rusted Root's best known song, "Send Me Away." When the film came out, I remember being unsure whether I should see it because I was at that funny age when I thought I might be too old for a children's movie like Matilda. Luckily, a mentor of mine nudged me in the right direction and I saw the movie. It was fantastic. It took me back to that time when I fell in love with reading. Dahl is so important, and he's one of the few authors whose books have not been ruined by terrible film adaptations (Johnny Depp's Wonka not withstanding). Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory are pure magic.

While the song I chose for my list is not "Send Me Away," just about any Rusted Root song has that loose association with my love for reading. And ultimately, "Ecstasy" is the better song.

Listening to "Ecstasy" now, it feels like I should have had a guilty pleasure type relationship with Rusted Root's music, but I don't think I ever felt ashamed of liking them. I think it helped that there never seemed to be a sense of pretense to their music. They simply wrote and performed music that they loved, and they clearly loved performing it too. It never felt like they were trying to pose or feel cool. They played what they wanted to play, and they played it well.

Last year, someone on Twitter wrote a thread revisiting the Woodstock '99 concert videos. It's a fun thread, and the author clearly had a good time poking fun at the bands, their sets, and their fans. When he got to Rusted Root, he had fun at the expense of their vibe and weird instruments, but then he came to the only fair conclusion that could be made about their set, they rocked it. I actually went back and watched most of their set, and can confirm that they were great. They rocked, their fans had fun, and the set is fantastic. When a band is that good and that genuine, you have to show them some respect.

Right now, "Ecstasy" by Rusted Root is (probably) by 73rd favorite song of all time.

74. Jamming by Bob Marley and the Wailers

"Jamming" by Bob Marley and the Wailers

Written by Bob Marley
Produced by Bob Marley and the Wailers
Released on Exodus (June 3, 1977)
Released as single in 1977
amazon spotify

Imagine for a moment that you are at a party at someone's house or apartment. It's chill. Everyone is just chatting and laughing and vibing. Maybe someone's grilling on the deck and you can smell the charcoal. Someone just said something funny, and everyone laughs and as the laughter dies, you become aware of the music that's been playing. What song do you hear?

It may be unfair asking that question in a blog post titled "Jamming" by Bob Marley and the Wailers, but the music playing is and always has been Bob Marley. His music is perfect for chilling, laughing, and having a good time.

Anyone who claims to not like Bob Marley is lying. There's no other valid explanation. Bob Marley's musical legacy is unrivaled. If his music isn't universally loved by all, it should be. While most music is divisive and tribal, the music of Bob Marley has always been able to bridge cultural, racial, and geographic divides. I find it hard to imagine any spot on earth where "Jamming" or "No Woman, No Cry" or "Stir it Up" or "Three Little Birds" or "One Drop" wouldn't inspire nods of the head, sweet smiles, and good vibes all around.

I know there are a handful of people who choose to ignore Bob Marley's music because of how much of his image and legacy are tied to cannabis, but if we let moral indignation decide our musical tastes for us, there won't be much to listen to because the Amish don't allow their music to be recorded.

Bob Marley created reggae. He raised it, defined it, and wrote and recorded a transcendent collection of music. My first exposure to reggae came through a friend of mine, Ben, who had lived in the Bahamas for a year in middle school. He returned to the US having fully embraced Caribbean culture and reggae music. While I'm sure I would have bought Legend at some point even without knowing Ben (like almost everyone else I went to high school with), he made sure that I was aware of the Marley that existed beyond those 14 amazing tracks on Legend. I never dove too deep into his catalog and never took the time to listen much to other reggae artists, but I do have a few, perhaps, lesser known Marley tracks on my Spotify playlists because of Ben's influence and suggestions.

Bob Marley's musical legacy, for most Americans, is primarily defined by that single compilation album, Legend. Those songs are pure magic. I picked "Jamming" as my favorite Marley song somewhat arbitrarily. I considered "No Woman, No Cry," "Redemption Song," "Stir It Up," and a few others. Ultimately, "Jamming" is perfect Marley. It's fun, it's chill, it plays. It's a party song and a religious song; it's reggae. It also, oddly enough, often makes me think of The Simpsons. There's an episode that uses it for the closing credits, and I never kicked that association. That's often the case for songs that ended up on this list, not only are they great, but they stuck with me because of being attached to a memory. Sometimes it's something innocuous like a TV show using the song, and sometimes it's something more meaningful. Whatever the reason, "Jamming" is certainly one of my favorite songs and for now takes its place on this list as my favorite Marley song.

I love Bob Marley, and his music will always be a big part of the soundtrack to that perfect party. So just lay back, chill, and let's all hope this jam is gonna last.

Right now, "Jamming" by Bob Marley is (probably) my 74th favorite song of all time.