The List

I recently bought a new CD, my first in a long time: Rosanne Cash's The List.

The story behind this album is that, after graduating high school, Rosanne went on tour with her dad, the legendary Johnny Cash. In a conversation with him about music, he kept mentioning songs, to which Rosanne would reply, "I don't know that one." It happened frequently enough to disturb the Man in Black to the point of jotting a list he called "100 essential country songs." The songs on my new CD are thirteen items on that list.

In the liner notes (a main reason I still love the actual, physical media), Rosanne mentions the songs as part of her musical geneology: those songs which came before and helped shape the songs she'd discovered and loved in her own time. I have to admit: of the thirteen, only two of the songs are familiar to me, and all of them are somewhat obscure (in my limited musical experience) and not exactly my genre of choice. However, if Johnny Cash made the list, and Johnny's in *my* musical geneology, then obviously every song he thought of that day on the tour bus is also part of mine.

This led me to think of making my own list, and as I drove my daughter to her dance class last night, the need for this was confirmed. I put on the CD and had her listen to Heartache by the Numbers, a duet Rosanne sings with Elvis Costello. The song itself is catchy enough, and their version includes such a deep and rhythmic guitar solo I thought for sure the little girl in the back seat would find something to appreciate. When it was all over, she said to me, "What's so special about that?"

My dear girl, you are *so* missing out.

And so I present my list of 100 Essential Rock Songs. It isn't so much a list of songs essential to understanding or appreciating rock (I'm vastly underqualified to make such a list), but those songs which have helped define and shape the person I've become, at least up until now. They all have some special quality or meaning that I consider essential, and therefore all have at least a small connection to my Core.

Don't flame me; I know there are egregious, almost criminal omissions. About half the list popped spontaneously into my head during the remaining ten minutes of the car ride to dance class, and had to be reconstructed later. About a quarter of it came from a quick perusal of the musical library on my computer, and the rest came from sources outside my immediate reach, because, though I can certainly come up with 100 songs I think are amazing and awesome, I know there are songs that have shaped me which I own no copies of, and haven't heard in many years, so I went looking for some of those. Some of these are personal favorites, some are what I think is representative of the artist's work, and some are truly what I consider "essential" in one's musical exposure. Certainly each meets at least two of these criteria. On the obvious omissions, I've concluded that 100 are not enough, and even if it were, everyone's 100 would be different than everyone else's. I invite any of my three or so readers to make a comment and add their own full or partial lists.

I'm cheating a little; where multiple artists are listed, I imply that each artist's version of that song should be listened to, contrasted, and appreciated separately. With all due humility, here is my list:

1. (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth, Metallica

2. Almost Cut My Hair, Crosby, Stills & Nash

3. Am I Evil, Metallica

4. And it Stoned Me, Van Morrison

5. Aqualung, Jethro Tull

6. As I Am, Dream Theater

7. Back in Black, AC/DC

8. Travelin Man+Beautiful Loser (live combo), Bob Seger

9. Black Magic Woman, Santana

10. Blue on Black, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

11. Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen

12. Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen

13. California Dreamin, Mamas and Papas

14. Cemetary Gates, Pantera

15. Come on in my Kitchen, Robert Johnson/Allman Bros. Band

16. Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne, Tribute to Randy Rhoades album

17. Cult of Personality, Living Colour

18. Descending, Black Crowes

19. Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live), Peter Frampton

20. Domino, Kiss

21. Dream On, Aerosmith

22. Eight Miles High, Byrds

23. Even Flow, Pearl Jam

24. Every Break You Take, Police

25. Everything is Broken, Dylan/R.L. Burnside/Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

26. Fearless, Pink Floyd

27. Fight For Your Right (To Party), Beastie Boys

28. Fire And Rain, James Taylor

29. Flying High Again, Ozzy Osbourne/Tribute album

30. Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash

31. Guitar Shop, Jeff Beck

32. Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Credence Clearwater Revival

33. Higher Ground, Stevie Wonder/Red Hot Chili Peppers

34. Holy Diver, Dio

35. Hotel California, Eagles

36. House of the Rising Sun, Animals

37. I Am the Highway, Audioslave

38. I Shall Be Released, Bob Dylan/The Band/Nina Simone

39. I Want A Little Sugar in My Bowl, Nina Simone

40. Imagine, John Lennon

41. Instinct Blues, White Stripes

42. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, Killers

43. Kashmir, Led Zeppelin

44. Knocking on Heaven's Door, Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses

45. Life By the Drop, Stevie Ray Vaughn

46. Light My Fire (full length), The Doors

47. Lines in the Sand, Dream Theater [1,2]

48. Lithium, Nirvana

49. Little Wing, Jimi Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughn

50. Living' on a Prayer, Bon Jovi

51. Mama Told Me (Not to Come), Three Dog Night

52. Manda Una Señal, Maná

53. Master of Puppets, Metallica

54. Maybelline, Chuck Berry

55. Mellissa, Allman Bros. Band

56. More Than A Feeling, Boston

57. Nights in White Satin, Moody Blues

58. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, George Thorogood

59. Pack Up, Eliza Doolittle

60. Piece of My Heart, Janice Joplin

61. Purple Haze, Hendrix

62. Rainbow in the Dark, Dio

63. Rock This Town, Stray Cats

64. Roundabout, Yes

65. Runaway, Del Shannon

66. Sea of Heartbreak, Gibson/J. Cash/R. Cash-Springsteen

67. Slaves and Bulldozers, Soundgarden

68. Sledge Hammer, Peter Gabriel

69. Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Elton John

70. Something Beautiful, Lynn Miles

71. Sometimes, Ours

72. Somewhere Down A Lazy River, Robbie Robertson

73. Space Oddity, David Bowie

74. Star Spangled Banner, Jimi Hendrix

75. Strawberry Fields Forever, The Beatles

76. Sweet Baby James, James Taylor

77. Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns N Roses

78. Sweet Euphoria, Chris Cornell

79. Taxman, The Beatles/Stevie Ray Vaughn

80. That's Alright Mama, Elvis Presley

81. The Distance, Cake

82. The Flame, Cheap Trick

83. The Great Gig in the Sky, Pink Floyd

84. The Pretender, Jackson Brown

85. The Weight, The Band

86. Think About Your Troubles, Harry Nillson

87. Thinking Of You, A Perfect Circle

88. Trouble, Coldplay

89. Voodoo Child, Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughn

90. Walking Blues, Robert Johnson/R.L. Burnside (acoustic/electric)/Eric Clapton

91. Wander This World, Johnny Lang

92. War Pigs, Black Sabbath

93. Welcome to my Nightmare, Alice Cooper

94. When the Tigers Broke Free, Pink Floyd

95. Whipping Post (Live recommended, not required), Allman Bros. Band

96. White Moon, White Stripes

97. White Room, Cream

98. Yesterday, The Beatles

99. You Got It, Roy Orbison

100. You Know I'm No Good, Amy Winehouse

Much thanks to the posters on YouTube, and apologies for possibly crappy versions of otherwise amazing songs. I found what I could, knowing these links may all be dead someday anyway.