Top 1000 Songs #240-#231

#240 - "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground" - The White Stripes - White Blood Cells - #9/10 - This song established Jack White as one of the great guitarists of his generation and put the White Stripes at the end of the pack for 21st century bands with their driving beats and quirky lyrics.

#239 - "(The Staircase) Mystery" - Siouxsie And The Banshees - The Scream - #4/4 - They'll probably never be inducted into the Hall of Fame and in fact they'll probably never even be recognized for the legends that they are, but Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of the founders of the New Wave and indie rock movement and this driving and dramatic song is the best example of their brilliance.

#238 - "Girlfriend Is Better" - The Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues - #8/10 - Although this song is not widely known as one of the Heads' biggest hits, "Better" is one of my favorites because of it's chorus and it's association with the concert performance film "Stop Making Sense".

#237 - "Killing In The Name Of" - Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine - #8/12 - One of the slower and crunchier songs of the Rage catalog, "Killing" is a brutal punk metal song with great lyrics and the usual guitar brilliance of Tom Morello.

#236 - "One Of Us" - Joan Osborne - Relish - #2/2 - The song that made her famous, "One Of Us" is one of the best-written and most thought-provoking songs of the 90's.

#235 - "My Girl" - The Temptations - "My Girl" - #1/1 - The all-time Motown classic from the label's best band, "My Girl" remains one of the great songs of the early days of rock n roll.

#234 - "Rape Me" - Nirvana - In Utero - #6/15 - The song borrows "Teen Spirit"'s guitar riff (originally borrowed from "More Than A Feeling"), but the breakdown towards the end was straight from Nirvana's late period, also known as 1994.

#233 - "Bastards Of Young" - The Replacements - Tim - #4/4 - The 'Mat's greatest song and one of their few songs to really take it up a notch, "Bastards" was the closest the band came to a breakthrough song. Hopefully they'll someday get the appreciation that they deserve, but barring a longshot induction into the RNR HOF, it seems unlikely.

#232 - "The Beautiful People" - Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar - #3/4 - Manson's biggest hit and his closest brush with respectability, "Beautiful" features a monster riff and great 90's-style alienation lyrics coupled with a screamingly great chorus.

#231 - "You Could Be Mine" - Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion II - #5/8 - The last great GNR song, "You Could Be Mine" combined the sweeping grandeur of the band's earlier hits with Axl's best signature breakdown in the last third of the song to make a brilliant last grab at greatness before Mr. Bailey destroyed the band.