Top 40 Songs of All Time - #1

Ok, so it's time to include this into my repertoire. Taste in music and a discussion and ranking of all of my favourite songs. I have an eclectic taste in music, so it will be interesting to see how they rank against each other, or even if it is possible to do this. Of course it is subjective - not just because it is my own personal taste, but also because depending on mood, circumstance, etc, how I feel about a song can and will change.

So here we go. On my iTunes I have about 1,500 songs at the moment, and am sure I am missing many that have just slipped my mind. My iTunes journey started back in Gladstone QLD in 2004 when I bought a PC there and installed it. I spend a long time downloading my many CD's, and was frankly glad not to have to cart them around with me everywhere anymore (I ended up donating them all to charity). I have also since moved to digital purchasing, although this is not without issue, as there are a number of songs in my library that I cannot currently access. More about that another time. For now, onto the first batch of songs.

What I intend to do is randomly select songs from my library and rank them in order of how much I like them. As new songs are selected, they will be compared to the existing list to find out where they slot in. So here we go with the first 10 songs....

1) Gonna Make You Sweat - C&C Music Factory - 1990

2) Rip It Up - 28 Days - 2000

3) Are You Still Having Fun - Eagle Eye Cherry - 2000

4) When I Grow Up - Garbage - 1998

5) Bustin' Surfboards - The Tornados - 1962

6) Galvanise - The Chemical Brothers - 2005

7) San Francisco - Scott McKenzie - 1967

8) Rock Your Body, Rock - Ferry Corsten - 2003

9) Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds - 1985

10) Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani - 2004

Ok so that's the first 10 songs! Quite a mix, encompassing 43 years. What I intend to do is listen to each one and then rank them. As new lots of 10 come into the mix, they will be ranked against previous iterations, and we'll see how we go from there. Given I have well over 1000 songs to look at, this may take some time!

Wow, some serious nostalgia there listening to those songs. So I came up with a basic ranking system from 1-5, with 5 being something I would never hit the pass button on and 1 wondering why it is in my collection to begin with.

For these first 10 songs, 5 hit top marks and 5 came in with 4/5 stars. Fuck my brown dog this is hard. But, after much deliberation, a few bourbons and numerous playing of the various clips, here is my initial order....

1	When I Grow Up	Garbage	1998
2	Are You Still Having Fun	Eagle Eye Cherry	2000
3	Don't You Forget About Me	Simple Minds	1985
4	Rock Your Body, Rock	Ferry Corsten	2003
5	Galvanise	The Chemical Brothers	2005
6	Rip It Up	28 Days	2000
7	Gonna Make You Sweat	C&C Music Factory	1990
8	San Francisco	Scott McKenzie	1967
9	Hollaback Girl	Gwen Stefani	2004
10	Bustin' Surfboards	The Tornadoes	1962

As I go through the next sets of songs, I'll decide where they fit on this list. Once I get to 40 overall, if a new song fits outside the Top 40, I won't bother ranking it, to save time if nothing else. After all, this is about an all-time Top 40 for me, not a Top 1500. Even though I am a complete-ist, that would be insane.

So, onto the next iteration....