My 500 Favorite Songs (Revisited, Sort Of)

[August 2020 Update: I originally posted this list back in March 2020. I said at the time that I was hoping to update the list, which I created back in 2016, or maybe even expand it to a Top 1000. Alas, neither of those things has happened yet; but I did go into Spotify and update the playlists to add a few songs that weren't streaming previously. Of the 500 songs, spread over 10 playlists, we're down to less than a dozen that aren't available on Spotify (in a few cases, I had to substitute a live/demo/alternative version of the song). Enjoy at your leisure!]

Taking a brief break from the album-of-the-day today to talk about... songs.  Now, I assume everybody has taken a few minutes at one point or other to quickly jot down a list of their 500 favorite songs, in order.  Hello?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

Ok, I guess I'm a little strange.  I had a little down-time a few years ago -- I think I had just resolved a bit of litigation, was waiting to start gearing up for a large trial, and decided to undertake this little project.  Now, in hindsight, perhaps I should have done something like, oh, I dunno, taken my wife on a short vacation.  I'm a very bad man.

As with any exercise of this nature, it's highly subjective and always in flux.  Every time I hear one of these songs, I can't help thinking, damn, what a great song, it really needs to be higher up on the list.  Just glancing at it right now and I see about 50 changes I need to make.  But at some point you just need to put a pin in it and move on. 

Now, this was done about 4 years ago, and there have been some great songs since then.  Hell, just off the top of my head I can think of songs that need to be added from Charly Bliss, the Paranoid Style, the Beths, Alvvays, Japandroids, Waxahatchee...

So next time I get a break I plan to revise this.  Who knows, maybe I'll expand it to a Top 1000.  Everyone has one of those, right?

 
Here's a playlist of my Top 150 (note: these shifted around a few times, so may not line up exactly with the list). You can find the rest of the playlists rounding out my Top 500 on my Spotify page.

1-50

51-100

101-150