From The Home Office In Des Moines...

Have you ever thought of how hard it would be to rank your ten
favorite songs of all time? For me, at least, it's quite a daunting
task. In my collection of music, I've got well over 30,000 songs - and
I'd say I know quite a few more. So how in the heck do you pick out 10
songs out of 30,000? How do you do it without forgetting a bunch of
songs? Simply put, you can't. Or at least, I can't. But for
curiosity's sake, I'm gonna try anyway.

10. Basketcase by Green Day
I can't hear the beginning of this song without listening and singing along to the whole thing. I fondly remember sitting in the back of the school bus back in 1994, singing this song with all my friends as we sped away to school. This is one of the few songs that I would imagine everybody in their twenties who lived in America in the 90s should know. Possibly the best pop-punk song ever.


9. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John
Elton didn't write his own songs, but that doesn't detract from the fact that he was a part of some pop masterpieces. GYBR is one of my favorite songs ever, if for nothing else than the fact that the song is a sweet one.


8. Duckpond by Millencolin
Punk rock is what I am. Punk's my favorite kind of music, and I love nothing more than an energetic punk song. And that's what Duckpond is. Swedish punkers Millencolin scream and wail throughout this whole song, and I can't hear it without wanting to scream along. One hell of a track off one hell of an amazing punk album, "Pennybridge Pioneers".


7. March of the Pigs by Nine Inch Nails
This song is the closest thing I could find to pure energy in sonic form. This song just rocks me to the absolute core every time I hear it. I can't hear this song without my blood starting to boil, inciting me to just jump up and smash something. A rage inspiring song, this is. Trent Reznor truly knew what he was doing with this track.


6. I Want to Conquer the World by Bad Religion
Punk rock at its finest. Brash and intense. This song is basically a huge middle finger pointed squarely at the world. A song this raging and powerful has no choice but to be short - and it seems to just whizz by. From the spectacular punk masterpiece 1989 album "No Control", this Bad Religion song is among their finest, and one of the best punk tracks I've ever heard.


5. The Moldau by Bedrich Smetana
Contrary to the beliefs of some out there, I do listen to more than just punk, rock, and rap. This symphonic poem by Smetana details the story of a river (the Vltava, which I stood above on a bridge in Prague about a month before a catastrophic flood) as the river grows from its roots as a tiny, meandering stream into a powerful, raging river flowing by castles and great towns. The orchestration is superb, and I truly fell in love with this song when I heard it for the first time in Prague. This song will forever remind me of my few days in Prague and the Czech Republic.


4. Baby, I'm A Big Star Now by The Counting Crows
I'll never forget the first time that I heard this song. I was sitting in a movie theatre, watching the movie Rounders, and the end credits began to roll. I was getting out of my seat when this song began playing. I was taken aback, sat down, and listened to the whole song play through. It instantly became one of my favorites. Only available on the soundtrack to the movie, this is one well worth listening to.


3. Coffee and TV by Blur
This song is rediculously chill. It's my go-to song when I need to chill out. What first got me interested was the amazing video documenting the adventures of a milk carton sprung to life. While I'm not a huge Blur fan, this song is one of my favorites of all time. Seriously, go check it out.


2. Crestfallen by The Smashing Pumpkins
This song is a sad and beautiful one by one of my favorite bands of all time. From the often frowned upon album "Adore", this song is just a sonic masterpiece. A great song to listen to and mope around. Especially good if you've just had your heart broken. In fact, every time I hear this song, I feel as if my heart's being broken all over again. It's that powerful.


1. Golden Brown by The Stranglers
First off, yes, it's a song about heroin. Subject matter aside, I think I fell in love with it when I was first watching the movie Snatch. In the scene where Gorgeous George has the bare-knuckles fight with Mickey (Brad Pitt), the music that plays when George is knocked out is this song. It's hauntingly beautiful, the frail vocals and the harpsichord (possibly my favorite instrument to listen to) just lead the way to a great song. It's short, it's sweet, it's sustaining.

Honorable Mention:
The Best Imitation of Myself by Ben Folds Five, Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake, Jump Around by House of Pain, All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix, Say It Ain't So by Weezer, Everlong by the Foo Fighters, Marche Slav by Tchaikovsky

Now is this list 100% correct and with no omissions? Of course not. Eventually I'll get it right.