Pedestrian At Best (Part Three: The Quickening) (Patreon)

Okay, this one's for real.

I realized that there were some anomalies in the previous lists. For one thing, I was primarily going by my iTunes playlists. However, there are some key tracks that I exclude from those lists, primarily because the sound level makes them impossible to enjoy in the car. Also, there are certain songs I exclude because I know that Jen does not enjoy them, and others that simply don't fit with the general mix.

Also over the past few days I've done some deep listening. Some of the songs on the original lists don't hold up like I thought they did. Also, I have discovered that, in addition to my predilection for crunching guitars and atmospheric synths, I don't really care much at all about lyrics. All of these songs could be about Ziploc bags or the Culex mosquito and I'd like them just the same.

So below is the complete, definitive Favo(u)rites List. You will notice it has more older songs than the previous lists. This is not so much an attempt at seeming better-versed in music history, but of alleviating those playlist-driven anomalies mentioned above.

1. ADAM ANT - "Goody Two Shoes"

2. ALAN PARSONS PROJECT - "Prime Time"

3. ALANIS MORRISETTE - "Hands Clean"

4. ANDREW BIRD - "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left"

5. BATTLES - "Atlas"

6. THE BEATLES - "Tomorrow Never Knows"

7. BERLIN - "The Metro"

8. BIG STAR - "Kangaroo"

9. BLACK SHEEP - "The Choice is Yours"

10. BLUMFELD - "2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von Dir weiss"

11. BRIAN ENO - "Needle in the Camel's Eye"

12. THE BYRDS - "Eight Miles High"

13. CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN - "Sweethearts"

14. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND - "Tropical Hot Dog Night"

15. CHINA CRISIS - "Christian"

16. CORNELIUS - "Gum"

17. THE CURE - "The Caterpillar"

18. DAVE CLARK FIVE - "Glad All Over"

19. DAVID BOWIE - "Life On Mars?"

20. DEVO - "Beautiful World"

21. ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS - "Night Rally"

22. FALCO - "Der Kommissar"

23. THE FALL - "Cruisers Creek"

24. FLEETWOOD MAC - "You Make Loving Fun"

25. FOO FIGHTERS - "Everlong"

26. FOUR TOPS - "Reach Out I'll Be There"

27. FRIEND & LOVER - "Reach Out In the Darkness"

28. GARBAGE - "Vow"

29. GARY NUMAN / TUBEWAY ARMY - "Are "Friends' Electric?"

30. GARY WILSON - "6.4 = Makeout"

31. GLEN CAMPBELL - "Wichita Lineman"

32. HOLE - "Violet"

33. INTERPOL - "Untitled"

34. INXS - "Don't Change"

35. JAWBOX - "Savory"

36. JEFF BUCKLEY - "Grace"

37. JOANNA NEWSOM - "Anecdotes"

38. JONI MITCHELL - "God Must Be a Boogie Man"

39. JULIETA VENEGAS - "Lento"

40. JUSTICE - "DVNO"

41. KANYE WEST - "Love Lockdown"

42. KATE BUSH - "Wow"

43. THE KNACK - "My Sharona"

44. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - "Losing My Edge"

45. LEONARD COHEN - "The Stranger Song"

46. LIZ PHAIR - "Animal Girl"

47. LL COOL J - "Going Back to Cali"

48. LOU REED & JOHN CALE - "Forever Changed"

49. M83 - "Midnight City"

50. MANIC STREET PREACHERS - "You Stole the Sun From My Heart"

51. THE MODERN LOVERS - "Modern World"

52. NEKO CASE - "This Tornado Loves You"

53. NICK LOWE - "Cruel to Be Kind"

54. NIRVANA - "Sappy (aka Verse Chorus Verse)"

55. NO DOUBT - "Hella Good"

56. PANIC! AT THE DISCO - "LA Devotee"

57. PATTI SMITH - "Break It Up"

58. PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS - "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"

59. PAVEMENT - "Debris Slide"

60. PENGUIN VILLA - "Acrophobia"

61. PERE UBU - "30 Seconds Over Tokyo"

62. PETER GABRIEL - "Games Without Frontiers"

63. PJ HARVEY - "The Sky Lit Up"

64. PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION - "Around the World In a Day"

65. PUBLIC IMAGE LTD. - "Pop Tones"

66. R.E.M. - "The Flowers of Guatemala"

67. RADIOHEAD - "Everything In Its Right Place"

68. RIHANNA - "Diamonds"

69. RILO KILEY - "Love and War (11/11/46)"

70. ROBYN HITCHCOCK - "Sounds Great When You're Dead"

71. ROXY MUSIC - "Same Old Scene"

72. RUN-DMC - "It's Tricky"

73. SCOTT WALKER - "Tilt"

74. SCRITTI POLITTI - "Absolute"

75. SERGE GAINSBOURG - "Bonnie and Clyde"

76. SHARON VAN ETTEN - "Give Out"

77. SLEATER-KINNEY - "Things You Say"

78. THE SONICS - "Have Love Will Travel"

79. SPARKS - "Aeroflot"

80. TALKING HEADS - "Animals"

81. TAYLOR SWIFT - "All You Had to Do Was Stay"

82. TEARS FOR FEARS - "The Working Hour"

83. TEGAN AND SARA - "I Bet It Stung"

84. TELEVISION - "Marquee Moon"

85. THE THE - "This Is the Day"

86. TORI AMOS - "Taxi Ride"

87. TRAGICALLY HIP - "Thompson Girl"

88. THE TUBES - "She's a Beauty"

89. TV ON THE RADIO - "Wolf Like Me"

90. UTAH SAINTS - "Something Good"

91. VIC CHESNUTT - "Betty Lonely"

92. THE WHITE STRIPES - "The Hardest Button to Button"

93. THE WHO - "Eminence Front"

94. WIRE - "12XU"

95. XTC - "Easter Theatre"

96. ZOMBIES - "Care of Cell 33" 

Oh, and as a bonus: here's the song I hate more than any other song in the history of organized sound:

1. GARY WRIGHT - "Dream Weaver"