Top 1000 Songs #980-#971

Due to a song that was added further up the list, there will be two songs at #971. This will probably happen a couple times before this is all said and done.

980 - "Still Crazy After All These Years" - Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years - Paul Simon's only song in the top 1000 is probably his most famous song. It's the song he performed on Saturday Night Live in a turkey costume. I first heard this song when I bought a Greatest Hits cassette of Paul's back in college.

979 - "Straight On" - Heart - Dog & Butterfly - The first of three Heart songs on the list, "Straight On" was one of many songs I first heard on the classic rock station in Sioux Falls. This one doesn't have the punch of their two better songs, but it's still excellent.

978 - "Such Great Heights" - The Postal Service - Give Up - The only song on the countdown from Death Cab frontman Ben Hibbard's side project The Postal Service is one of the best emo songs ever written. I first discovered the band at the recommendation of Blender magazine. If you're curious, only 3 Death Cab songs beat this song.

977 - "Blank Generation" - Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation - Quite possibly the first official punk song, "Blank Generation", the only Richard Hell song on the countdown, was the launching point for the New York '77 scene that inspired The Ramones, who in turn inspired the English punk movement. Richard Hell's band didn't last very long and they've mostly been forgotten, but they were essentially the Pixies of punk.

976 - "Slither" - Velvet Revolver - Contraband - "Slither" is the first of two songs by Velvet Revolver and the highest ranking new song from their debut album. VR's always been a bit of a disappointment to me, but they did manage to put a few solid songs together. Still, with the lead singer of STP and the band from GNR, they should be among the greatest bands ever.

975 - "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?" - The Ramones - End Of The Century - The first of five Ramones songs on the list, "Radio" appeals to me particularly because of the chorus, which is remarkable even for one of the best chorus bands in rock history. Since the Ramones don't get a lot of air time in South Dakota, I learned about this band in college.

974 - "Dead Again" - Buckcherry - Buckcherry - The first of three songs by Buckcherry is also the first of three songs from their debut album, which ranks among the best rock albums of the 21st century. I actually learned about Buckcherry from the Sioux Falls rock radio station KRRO, which is surprising because they've mostly played shitty music for the last few years.

973 - "Hunger Strike" - Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog - The only song on the list from the supergroup that didn't realize it was a supergroup (the band features Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell and members of Pearl Jam), "Hunger Strike" was the single that Eddie sang on. The song got a lot of airplay after Pearl Jam and Soundgarden made it big.

972 - "Rock You Like A Hurricane" - The Scorpions - Love At First Sting - The only Scorpions song to make the countdown is also the only hair metal song. I might have been a big fan of the genre when I was 8, but I quickly learned that I was wrong. Still, this one is still memorable enough to keep me from flipping the station if it comes on.

971 - "Moneytalks" - AC/DC - The Razors Edge - The first of nine AC/DC songs, "Moneytalks" was one of two hits that marked AC/DC's comeback in 1991. I've always been a big fan of blues rock and AC/DC was the best at it in the last 25 years.

971 - "Tightly Wound" - The Capes - Hello - The only song by the Capes to make the charts is one of those buzzworthy songs that gets bands attention from music blogs. They never really built on the hype, but the song, which I heard about in Blender, is excellent.