So here’s my CURRENT favorite 100 songs, more or less, as of Fall 2022. I’ve actually sequenced these like a mixtape. Enjoy.

MM Top Favorite Songs (Spotify)

I’m also including this list of honorable mentions. Those songs aren’t sequenced at all.

MM Favorite Songs – Honorable Mentions (Spotify)

And I’ve also put together a Youtube playlist of the top 100, since some folks don’t do Spotify.

MM Top 100 Favorite Songs (Youtube)

I decided not to use the music video versions of the songs, as I didn’t want the visuals to distract from the basic songs…though there are definitely some killer videos on this list (for example, the video for “Smalltown Boy” is basically a wonderfully executed short film, pretty ground-breaking in subject and tone for its time). I wish I could have found an easier way to do this that didn’t support either of those platforms (since smaller artists don’t benefit much from having their content on them for free), but couldn’t come up with anything. Perhaps somewhere down the line.

All in all, I think this list represents a powerful, expansive map of my musical tastes, and also the mystery around what musical experiences “hit” me. Some of these songs, for instance, have short sections that I could listen to over and over, while the beauty of them is that they only last a few seconds (for example, the end section of Hoover’s “Shut,” or the lead riff at 2:27, about two-thirds of the way through Helms Alee’s “Born in Fiberglass”).

A few items of note:

1) Deciding on a favorite 100 is a strange experiment in exploring what loving music really means to me. As I created this, I noted that while many bands and artists are favorites of mine (David Bowie, Devo, Radiohead, Versus, Queen, etc.), only a few of their songs really seemed to belong on this list. On the other hand, there are songs on here (like “Digging Your Scene” by the Blow Monkeys) by bands whose other songs I’ve never heard or songs by bands I kind of consider dumb fun, but don’t have a deep investment in (like AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”).

2) One of these is the Sisters of Mercy’s “This Corrosion,” and I’ve included the 12” nearly 9 minute-long version. I prefer the 7” 4 ½ minute-long version that is the music video uses, but that isn’t available on Spotify.

3) I’m not sure if these playlists are accessible by everyone. Let me know if there are issues with accessing this, and I’ll fix this access and make it fully public.

4) I could write commentary about every song on here, but that feels like a Herculean task. Maybe some day.

5) There is a real mix of loud and quiet on here, and just want folks to be prepared for that. The Laibach song is particularly creepy-sounding.

6) A good dozen of these are regular karaoke standards of mine (at least they were in the before times).

7) Fugazi features Joe Lally on bass. He’s my bass teacher. Ride out the noise intro for “Do You Like Me” (it’s about 51 seconds long, then gets going).

8) I would like the following three songs played at my funeral – “Teenage Wildlife” (David Bowie), “Love is Stronger Than Death” (The The), and “Play the Game” (Queen). Again, enjoy.

PS I know Morrissey is a racist jerk. But I still love the Smiths.