My Top Ten Favorite Songs

This is my top ten list of my favorite songs. Keep in mind that I didn't create this list isn't a "Top Ten Best Songs of All Time" list. I think that those two kind of lists are very distinct. One is based on sales and/or universal acclaim. These songs are ones that are special to me in a more personal way. I plan on expanding this list in the future ten songs at a time. See the list after the jump.

1. Musicx- Pato Pooh

This song was on this mixtape called "I Work Hard Chronicles" by Pato Pooh. That whole mixtape was special to me because it was the first rap album I ever listened to. I had always bashed on rap before this; without ever listening to it. This song in particular changed the hole way I looked at rap. This guy was rapping about how much he loves music, and how it changed his life. That's pretty powerful. I don't think he could have pulled it off the same if it was a different genre of music.

2. Vengeance- The Protomen

I LOVE THE PROTOMEN. This band is based off of the Mega-Man games. That sounds corny at first, but they are an amazing group of artists. All of their albums tell this amazing, mature, deep story. This part of the album is Mega Man unleashing his vengeance on the robots of Dr. Wily. This song is the least story-oriented of all of them. I think it fits with the theme though. At this point Mega Man is this rage-filled teenager. He isn't that deep of a character at this point. Also, this song never ceases to get me pumped.

3. Strugglin’ - K’naan

. . .  This song is just amazing. I first heard K'naan featuring a song by another artist. It wasn't that special. K'naan didn't even rap that much on this song. It did git me interested enough to check out his first album. On that note, I've never heard an album as amazing as this one. The emotion and creativity is just spectacular. The true story of his life he tells from the music just fascinated me. This was my favorite song from that album.

4. Sexy "Chick"- David Guetta

Now, this seems like the most. . . shallow of all the songs on here. It doesn't talk about the artists emotion, or their life, and isn't that interesting at first. I was still blown away when I first heard this song. This was a genre of music I had never heard before; much less listen to closely (I'm talking about Electronic Dance Music btw). One day I asked Janessa Holst to recommend me some songs out of the blue. I didn't know her at all at the time, but she was pretty awesome and gave me a huge list of her favorite EDM songs. This one was the first on the list, and it got me hooked : ).

5. Vienna- Billy Joel

I remember I was in a motel room one night. I can't remember why we were there. Maybe it was a funeral or another emergency. I only remember being rushed to get there, and not having anything to entertain myself. I watched crappy sitcoms for a while until I switched to this infomercial channel. The first thing I saw was Billy Joel live performing this song. I had never listened closely to his music, and was just amazed. I was having a terrible time at school at this point. This song just told me what I needed to hear, "Just slow down and take life one day at a time" Needless to say I sat though 20 min increments of advertisement bullshit in order to see this song played over and over again. Now Billy Joel is one of my favorite artists.

6. Seventeen Years - Ratatat

One day I watched a mini Modern Warfare 2 montage by Anna Tauras. She had the song Nostrand by Ratatat playing during the montage. It instantly got me hooked. I've never heard so much emotion told in just steadily thumping, increasing beats. I went and listened to this song; which outdid Nostrand by 10x. It is just so amazing. Halfway through the song the beat slows down. It fits so well with the mood of the whole song.

7. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

This song is one of the few on the list I think could go in a "Top Ten Songs Of All Time" article. The song is a perfect portrayal of someone going crazy. The song goes from slow, sad melodies to a slightly avant-garde sound and back again. I started listing to Queen after my father had me watch the movie that was my namesake, Highlander (I was named after Connor McCloud). Queen did the whole soundtrack for the movie, so I loved the music right away. I think this was one of their best songs.

8. Ghostface Killah’s Save Me Dear vs. City of the Ancients - Team Teamwork

Yeah, this song is another genre first. In this case it's a little known music genre. I'm talking about musical mash-ups. Where you get two or more songs and combine them until something new. This is a mashup between a Ghostface Killah rap song and the soundtrack from Final Fantasy 7. I thought the game was amazing; so I have good memories associated with the song. Regardless, this is a great song that only improves the already fantastic rap by Ghostface.

9. ‘Till I Collapse - Eminem

This is one of the more well-known songs on my list. Anyway, I still love it. It's one of Eminem's best raps. I think this is because it never ceases to get pumped. He portrays this great sense of moving forward and ignoring all obstacles in your way. What good rap should be.

10. Speechless - Lady Gaga

This song is beautiful.