This is the only song I know all the words to and can recite at breakneck speed without a musical backing track if prompted and that's for two reasons. One, I suck at memorizing lyrics, and two, "The Humpty Dance" is obviously worth remembering. I've uncontrollably bobbed my head and laughed my arse off at the Digital Underground's finest and most iconic jam since it came out when I was nine years old and will continue to do so for all of my humptacular days. There is nothing the least bit to take seriously here, just party rap at it's best. "The Humpty Dance" also has one of the most sampled drum beats in hip-hop history, the drum beat itself comprised of five sampled sources, and that ridiculously pulsating bass groove is appropriately both stupid and bomb-ass as all get out. As Shock G proclaims, "Let's get stupid!" indeed.
99. "Pick Up the Pieces" - Average White Band
One of the goddamn funkiest jams of all time right here. Scottish funk sounds like a genre that shouldn't exist, but that was the Average White Band's schtick to begin with from the beginning. This is easily the band's signature tune and I'm one of those annoying guys who asks any horn player I ever meet, or anyone in a band with a horn player in it, if they play "Pick Up the Pieces". Because c'mon, they have to right? This is one of those perfectly composed songs where basically every band member is playing a separate hook. Both guitar licks would be all you'd need to sample to make a hip-hop track work, then you got that tight drum groove and of course one of the most recognizable horn parts ever laid down. I feel kinda silly, make that very silly, for not having anything from the Mighty James Brown make my top 100 cut, so as of this writing, "Pieces" beith my very favorite funk song.
98. "Little By Little" - Oasis
I am a huge Noel Gallagher fan, so much to the point that the contributions of all other Oasis members from any given time are mostly ignored by me. Well actually Heathen Chemistry, one of the most underrated albums of all time and damn near Oasis' masterpiece (I and only I think so), has solid entries from four of the five band members at the time. But surprising to absolutely no one, Noel pens the albums best track, the single "Little By Little", which also stands as my favorite Oasis song period. In fact it's the only double A-side single the band ever put out, "She Is Love", another Noel sung and written jam, sharing the bill. Noel's vocal on here is outstanding and it's generally just a pitch perfect bit of ballad-esque pop songwriting. Nothing fancy, just Noel hitting it out of the park as he's wont to do.
97. "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley
I figured it'd be criminal to not have an Elvis tune on this list and for me the obvious choice has always been "Suspicious Minds". "Kentucky Rain" is a close second though, truth be told. "Minds" though was the last number one single Elvis ever put out, and his seventeenth overall. And along with the glorious '68 Comeback Special, tis the song that pretty much was responsible for putting Elvis back on the map after his run in Hollywood that lasted throughout most of the 60s. Fine Young Cannibals also do an outstanding version of "Minds" as well and though you pretty much can't fuck up a song this good but at the end of the day of course, Elvis owns it.
96. "We Don't Eat" - James Vincent McMorrow
Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow's debut Early In the Morning is a hauntingly breathy acoustic album with McMorrow's soaring falsetto floating around like some seashore ghost. It's a gorgeous sound and "We Don't Eat" is a gorgeous track. The arrangement and song title itself I guess are a bit odd, with a seemingly conflicting piano lick playing throughout the intro and layers of more piano, guitar, and sparse percussion building and building to a key change bridge and ultimately a marching time final chorus. But the melody throughout is astounding. With only two albums dropped thus far, this guy is bound for further greatness, I'm calling it right here.
Irony here perhaps that my favorite Morphine song is musically completely uncharacteristic of the band's sound, that sound being the "low rock" of only a two-string bass, duel saxes, and drums. With ingredients like that, Morphine was undoubtedly one of the most unique bands of the 90s if not ever. But as I'm sure I'll say again throughout this list, and will become increasingly apparent, I'm a sucker for ballads and "In Spite of Me" is as beautiful as they come. Mark Sandman whisperly crooning about not being the most stand-up of a guy he'd like to be, wishing a girl he's clearly not over the best of luck "in spite of" him, is one of the man's many excellent lyrics. And the only instrument featured is a mandolin, (in fact the only mandolin on the whole album), played by non-band member Jimmy Ryan.
Mikael Åkerfeldt was inspired from two separate sources to write arguably the song of his career thus far, the incredible Watershed album's "Burden". One was the Scorpions ballad "Living and Dying" musically, and the lyric came from a girl he once dated who committed suicide, which Åkerfeldt caught wind of while the band was recording. Needless to say, more happy a life, or in this case death, event is always preferable to exalt a lyric, but one has to take inspiration from wherever it comes. And Opeth's ballads have always been sorrowful in a most haunting and beautiful way. This whole song is fantastic but the kicker comes at about the four minute mark when Åkerfeldt and second guitarist Fredrik Åkesson kick into for my money, the best duel guitar solo of all time. Epically gorgeous stuff.
Badfinger is sadly yet appropriately known as pop music's most cursed band and they've been one of my very favorites for a long time. Their penultimate album for Apple Records, 1971's Straight Up, is their finest and also contains my favorite of their songs, Pete Ham's "Name of the Game". Both the album and this song in particular went through a bit of a whirlwind. Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick originally produced the sessions and "Game" was about to be released as a single before George Harrison came on board to re-work some tracks, which he felt could be improved upon. Harrisson then ran off to put the legendary Concert For Bangladesh together, which Badfinger also participated in, and his involvement with Straight Up ended there. No matter as another legend, Todd Rundgren came in to wrap up what was eventually released. The original version of "Game", which didn't get a proper release until the 1993 CD issue of the album, is the one I fancy, and is noticeably different then the version heard for years. It's Pete Ham at his melodic best, an acoustic ballad to be reckoned with for sure.
92. "The Re-Arranger" - Mates of State
My brother, who may be the biggest Mates of State fan on this green earth, preached these indie darlings greatness for many a year before I finally got my lazy ass around to checking out some of their stuff. I actually stumbled upon "The Re-Arranger", the near-title track for the band's fifth album, by accident while driving my brother's drunk ass home one evening in his car and it popped up on his iPod. I took a gander at said iPod and made a mental note to make this the first Mates album I'd acquire and do so I did. And ever since that fateful night, this has remained without any conceivable doubt my favorite song this husband/wife duo has ever done. The band's trademark of simultaneous, counter vocal melodies and lyrics on-top of one another are on display in the verses and we also get a rather confusing sing along of "Love loud, don't lose loud" near the finale. Whatever the fuck hell that means. But ultimately, this is a gem for being one of the most perfectly constructed pop songs I have ever or will ever hear in my life. The catchiness here is nearly unrivaled.
Like most of the general public, my favorite Pink Floyd era is Meddle through The Wall, when Roger Waters stepped up his game as a songwriter and the band as a whole tightened up their spaced-out sound and produced all the songs you hear on the radio to this day. Far as the band's genesis goes, there's still many a Sid Barret fan out there, (I'm not one of them), and then there was that experimental period from Saucerful of Secrets to Atom Heart Mother where Floyd more or less chose to noodle around sonically as opposed to dish out conventional pop songs, not that they ever really did anything conventional mind you. "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" stems from this tripped out, post-Barret period and has been my favorite Floyd jam since I heard it back in Junior High. The live version off Ummagumma, an otherwise forgettable album, is the one I always listen to and certainly the definitive version. This is basically a masterpiece of atmospheric, spooky, space rock and every note is delivered perfectly in said version. It also has one of the best screams in the history of rock music.
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