There have to be rules...

     Ok before we get down to the nitty gritty and start talking songs (or after actually since this will be the bottom most post come to think of it)... I thought I'd take a moment to go over my rules and methodology.

     First and foremost though, this project is heavily indebted to my friend Jason who started with his own Top 100 project, via a selective email distribution list (and you thought I was being retro with my Blogger account!), but which quickly turned into www.theJason100.com with his own merch and everything! I don't aspire to such greatness, but I am going to steal his first rule...

• One artist, one song, no repeats. Ok so I might fudge this one a little bit once or twice, but I think adding this restriction was the biggest challenge and also the thing that made it the most fun to work on. 
• My methodology... I couldn't just start with a blank page and come up with 100 songs. So I broke it down into 10 list. 10 "Genres" of music, some traditional, some less traditional, that I felt covered the breadth of my musical tastes. A lot of this is my musical biography, and I'm ok with that. Just like the saying 'clothes make the man', music makes the man (or woman) too. So these are the songs that have accompanied me on my 42 spins around the sun.
• My Genres... In loose chronological order
1. Formative Music - songs that each marked a step in my progression from child to man-child.
2. 80's Music - I was born in '82, but those 80's roots (scars?) run as deep.
3. 90's Music - It wasn't ALL just about the 3rd wave of Ska... but that was most of it.
4. Classic Songs - A bit nostalgia heavy I know, but I needed once last place for some oldies.
5. Indie Rock - Ok this is my home genre, my safe space, my college years I'm gonna indulge.
6. Indie Folk - So much so that "indie" get 2 categories! Theres a reason my daughter calls me "Hipster Clipart PNG Man" I guess.
7. Sad Songs - Dave are you ok? Yeah I'm good. But most of this music is happy tunes, and in a top 100 there needs to be room for all the emotions. 
8. Non-Pop Songs - Now this isn't the top 100 songs in the universe, but it is my top 100 and a lot of my favorite music falls outside of the pop-song category. So it lives here now.
9. Eclectic Songs - An anything goes space. I promise it's not all just more indie folk rock.
10. The Top 10 - The final 10. For me. 

        Music is a lot of different things. When we want to amplify a mood or manipulate our emotions, music does that. When we want to travel back in time, music does that. And even when we want to bring a group of people together on the same emotional wave length, music does that too. No other art form can do what it does. Sooooo now I'll stop writing and get to the tunes.