All Songs, Best to Worst: Alice in Chains

  Hey, guys. I'm still here. I know it's been a long time since I've written anything for this blog and I am sorry about that but since there's no movies to write about there's not much out there to give me material these days. I was running low on ideas until I decided to try another all songs rankings. As of late I've been listening a lot to today's band, Alice in Chains, and I think they're a band with a fascinating story.

  The classic lineup of this Seattle-based heavy metal group was known for its bittersweet harmonized vocals, the bleak and poignant lyrics, and overall raw and aggressive sound. Unlike most people I never considered Alice in Chains to be an out-and-out grunge band (unless we're talking about their deliciously murky self-titled album). This was 1990's metal at its finest, led my the talented songwriter-guitarist Jerry Cantrell and the balls-to-the-wall singing by Layne Staley who is my favourite singer of all time. Even though I didn't start listening to AIC until the early 2010's I was genuinely saddened to learn of Staley's passing in 2002, such was the power and sincerity of his performances.

  Years later the band came back with a new singer and a louder, doomier sound that still manages to fit snugly with the previous lineup's aesthetic. Despite not being as exciting as its previous incarnation I still have huge respect for this band that has survived the deaths of two members (the original drummer also died), reinvented itself, and continues to put out quality albums. So today I'm going to rank from best to worst – in my opinion – all 83 of Alice in Chains' songs that were released on full-length albums and EPs. Live albums, promotional singles, or duplicates will not be included. (Their first EP, We Die Young, included two songs that were also on their first album, Facelift, so I'll include them there.)

1. “Nutshell”, Jar of Flies (1994)

2. “Man in the Box”, Facelift (1990)

3. “Rooster”, Dirt (1992)

4. “Down in a Hole”, D

5. “We Die Young”, F

6. “Love, Hate, Love”, F

7. “No Excuses”, JoF

8. “Frogs”, Alice in Chains (1995)

9. “Heaven Beside You”, AIC

10. “Rain When I Die”, D

11. “Would?”, D

12. “Rotten Apple”, JoF

13. “Dirt”, D

14. “Stone”, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013)

15. “Sea of Sorrow”, F

16. “Sludge Factory”, AIC

17. “Last of My Kind”, Black Gives Way to Blue (2009)

18. “Hollow”, TDPDH

19. “All Secrets Known”, BGWtB

20. “Brother”, Sap (1992)

21. “Dam That River”, D

22. “Head Creeps”, AIC

23. “Real Thing”, F

24. “A Looking in View”, BGWtB

25. “Over Now”, AIC

26. “Got Me Wrong”, S

27. “Bleed the Freak”, F

28. “I Can't Remember”, F

29. “Grind”, AIC

30. “Shame in You”, AIC

31. “Voices”, TDPDH

32. “Check My Brain”, BGWtB

33. “Phantom Limb”, TDPDH

34. “Lab Monkey”, TDPDH

35. “God Smack”, D

36. “Red Giant”, Rainier Fog (2018)

37. “Them Bones”, D

38. “Your Decision”, BGWtB

39. “Rainier Fog”, RF

40. “Maybe”, RF

41. “Drone”, RF

42. “Sickman”, D

43. “It Ain't Like That”, F

44. “God Am”, AIC

45. “Confusion”, F

46. “When the Sun Rose Again”, BGWtB

47. “Junkhead”, D

48. “Killing Yourself”, We Die Young (EP, 1990)

49. “Again”, AIC

50. “Lesson Learned”, BGWtB

51. “Pretty Done”, TDPDH

52. “Hung on a Hook”, TDPDH

53. “All I Am”, RF

54. “So Far Under”, RF

55. “Scalpel”, TDPDH

56. “Sunshine”, F

57. “Angry Chair”, D

58. “Hate to Feel”, D

59. “Acid Bubble”, BGWtB

60. “Take Her Out”, BGWtB

61. “I Know Somethin' (Bout You)”, F

62. “Deaf Ears Blind Eyes”, RF

63. “So Close”, AIC

64. “The One You Know”, RF

65. “Brush Away”, AIC

66. “Don't Follow”, JoF

67. “Whale & Wasp”, JoF

68. “Private Hell”, BGWtB

69. “Low Ceiling”, TDPDH

70. “I Stay Away”, JoF

71. “Breath on a Window”, TDPDH

72. “Right Turn”, S

73. “Put You Down”, F

74. “Fly”, RF

75. “Nothing Song”, AIC

76. “Swing on This”, JoF

77. “Am I Inside”, S

78. “Black Gives Way to Blue”, BGWtB

79. “Choke”, TDPDH

80. “Never Fade”, RF

81. “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here”, TDHDP

82. “Love Song”, S

83. “Iron Gland”, D

All Songs, Best to Worst: The Doors (Morrison era)

Has it really been two years since I've done one of these? Hard to believe. I guess it's because I don't listen to the entire discography of that many bands (or at least I'm not comfortably familiar with enough bands to judge their entire discographies). Anyways this time we're going to compare The Doors' songs from the Jim Morrison era against eachother.

The Doors is a band that I've only recently gotten into and I'm wondering what took me so long; they're one of the most highly regarded American rock bands ever and their mix of blues, psychedelic, and rock is right up my alley. Their music was both intense and groovy (especially the keyboards by Ray Manzarek), Morrison's vocals were mesmerizing, and the songwriting never failed to take you on a mystical trip. The enigmatic Jim Morrison was the face of the band and he grew increasingly unstable as time went on. He died in 1971 and the remaining members tried continuing The Doors without him but called it quits after two marginal albums. Not many people care about the Doors after Morrison so today I'm going to rank all of the band's 61 songs from the six Morrison albums, best to worst. (Just for the record, I have heard 1978's An American Prayer and while I do think it's interesting I don't consider its tracks to be songs.)

1. “The End”, The Doors (1967)

2. “Light My Fire”, TD

3. “L.A. Woman”, L.A. Woman (1971)

4. “Hello, I Love You”, Waiting for the Sun (1968)

5. “Roadhouse Blues”, Morrison Hotel (1970)

6. “When the Music's Over”, Strange Days (1967)

7. “Riders on the Storm”, LAW

8. “Love Me Two Times”, SD

9. “Five to One”, WFTS

10. “Shaman's Blues”, The Soft Parade (1969)

11. “Not to Touch the Earth”, WFTS

12. “Break on Through (To the Other Side)”, TD

13. “Love Her Madly”, LAW

14. “The Soft Parade”, TSP

15. “The Changeling”, LAW

16. “Strange Days”, SD

17. “The Unknown Soldier”, WFTS

18. “Soul Kitchen”, TD

19. “The Crystal Ship”, TD

20. “People Are Strange”, SD

21. “Peace Frog”, MH

22. “20^th Century Fox”, TD

23. “Love Street”, WFTS

24. “The Spy”, MH

25. “The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)”, LAW

26. “Ship of Fools”, MH

27. “End of the Night”, TD

28. “Been Down So Long”, LAW

29. “Land Ho!”, MH

30. “We Could Be So Good Together”, WFTS

31. “Maggie M'Gill”, MH

32. “Touch Me”, TSP

33. “Take it As it Comes”, TD

34. “Blue Sunday”, MH

35. “Waiting for the Sun”, MH

36. “Tell All the People”, TSP

37. “You're Lost Little Girl”, SD

38. “I Looked at You”, TD

39. “Back Door Man”, TD

40. “Wintertime Love”, WFTS

41. “Cars Hiss By My Window”, LAW

42. “My Eyes Have Seen You”, SD

43. “Wild Child”, TSP

44. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”, TD

45. “Summer's Almost Gone”, WFTS

46. “I Can't See Your Face in My Mind”, SD

47. “Yes, the River Knows”, WFTS

48. “Queen of the Highway”, LAW

49. “Runnin' Blue”, TSP

50. “L'America”, LAW

51. “You Make Me Real”, MH

52. “Do It”, TSP

53. “Unhappy Girl”, SD

54. “Crawling King Snake”, LAW

55. “Moonlight Drive”, SD

56. “Spanish Caravan”, WFTS

57. “Easy Ride”, TSP

58. “Horse Latitudes”, SD

59. “My Wild Love”, WFTS

60. “Indian Summer”, MH

61. “Wishful Sinful”, TSP

All Songs, Best to Worst: Nirvana

Rounding out this most recent trilogy of All Songs Ranked is my countdown of Nirvana, one of the defining bands of the 1990's. It wasn't the first or most talented alternative band around, but it was one of the most influential and energetic. Nirvana was a band with the right attitude that came around at just the right time to become the vanguard of the alternative and grunge movements. Combining alternative music with punk sensibilities, Nirvana's music challenged its audience with music that sounded very different to what was on the radio and, as was the case with 1993's In Utero, wasn't always easy to listen to. It was, however, music that changed the world and today I'm going to countdown every one of Nirvana's 53 songs from best to worst. Since the band only released three studio albums, I'm also going to be including songs from 1992's Incesticide and 2002's Nirvana. Also, no live albums. Here we go.

1. “Aneurysm”, Incesticide (1992)

2. “In Bloom”, Nevermind (1991)

3. “Heart-Shaped Box”, In Utero (1993)

4. “Lithium”, Nm

5. “About a Girl”, Bleach (1989)

6. “School”, B

7. “You Know You're Right”, Nirvana (2002)

8. “Pennyroyal Tea”, IU

9. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Nm

10. “Dive”, I

11. “Come as You Are”, Nm

12. “Milk It”, IU

13. “Something in the Way”, Nm

14. “Blew”, B

15. “Breed”, Nm

16. “Negative Creep”, B

17. “Aero Zeppelin”, I

18. “Territorial Pissings”, Nm

19. “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle”, IU

20. “All Apologies”, IU

21. “On a Plain”, Nm

22. “Paper Cuts”, B

23. “Love Buzz”, B

24. “Scentless Apprentice”, IU

25. “Big Long Now”, I

26. “Hairspray Queen”, I

27. “Serve the Servants”, IU

28. “Been A Son”, I

29. “Dumb”, IU

30. “Lounge Act”, Nm

31. “Very Ape”, IU

32. “Mexican Seafood”, I

33. “Sliver”, I

34. “Turnaround”, I

35. “Radio-Friendly Unit Shifter”, IU

36. “Mr. Moustache”, B

37. “Swap Meet”, B

38. “Drain You”, Nm

39. “Polly”, Nm

40. “Endless, Nameless”, Nm

41. “Rape Me”, IU

42. “Scoff”, B

43. “Floyd the Barber”, B

44. “Son of a Gun”, I

45. “New Wave Polly”, I

46. “Molly's Lips”, I

47. “Tourette's”, IU

48. “Sifting”, B

49. “Big Cheese”, B

50. “Stay Away”, Nm

51. “Beeswax”, I

52. “Stain”, I

53. “Downer”, B

All Songs, Best to Worst: Led Zeppelin

The time has come to talk about Led Zeppelin. But what can I say about them that's not been said already? They're one of – if no the – greatest hard rock bands that ever existed. They've influenced countless bands, pioneered whole new genres of rock n' roll, and sold hundreds of millions of records. They're one of the heaviest bands ever and without them hard rock would sound very different today.

How can one describe Led Zeppelin's sound? It's a bit of everything, a mix of hard rock, blues, old school rock and roll, heavy metal, folk, funk rock, and progressive rock. Sometimes it was several of these genres in a single song! Listening to the band's music one can tell that Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham weren't content to stay put in the confines of just one box. They wanted to do everything and they did it well. So to celebrate their rich legacy I'm going to list all 80 of their songs (from the nine main albums) from best to worst. And just for the record, this is the hardest songs rankings list I've had to do yet, mostly because I don't really consider any Led Zeppelin song to be bad. It's just that some are way, way better than others.

1. “Stairway to Heaven”, Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

2. “Kashmir”, Physical Graffiti (1975)

3. “Whole Lotta Love”, Led Zeppelin II (1969)

4. “Heartbreaker”, LZ II

5. “When the Levee Breaks”, LZ IV

6. “Immigrant Song”, Led Zeppelin III (1970)

7. “In My Time of Dying”, PG

8. “Moby Dick”, LZ II

9. “The Ocean”, Houses of the Holy (1973)

10. “No Quarter”, HOTH

11. “Dazed and Confused”, Led Zeppelin (1969)

12. “Black Dog”, LZ IV

13. “Rock and Roll”, LZ IV

14. “Wearing and Tearing”, Coda (1982)

15. “Babe I'm Gonna Leave You”, LZ

16. “The Lemon Song”, LZ II

17. “Bring it on Home”, LZ II

18. “The Rain Song”, HOTH

19. “Communication Breakdown”, LZ

20. “That's the Way”, LZ III

21. “I Can't Quit You Baby”, C

22. “The Battle of Evermore”, LZ IV

23. “Houses of the Holy”, PG

24. “Custard Pie”, PG

25. “Ten Years Gone”, PG

26. “Since I've Been Loving You”, LZ III

27. “Going to California”, LZ IV

28. “In the Light”, PG

29. “Good Times Bad Times”, LZ

30. “Achilles Last Stand”, Presence (1976)

31. “D'Yer Maker”, HOTH

32. “The Crunge”, HOTH

33. “I Can't Quit You Baby”, LZ

34. “Ramble On”, LZ II

35. “What is and What Should Never Be”, LZ II

36. “Misty Mountain Hop”, LZ IV

37. “Four Sticks”, LZ IV

38. “Fool in the Rain”, In Through the Out Door (1979)

39. “The Rover”, PG

40. “Bron Y Aur Stomp”, LZ III

41. “Walter's Walk”, C

42. “Living Loving Maid”, LZ II

43. “Tangerine”, LZ III

44. “Hots on For Nowhere”, P

45. “Dancing Days”, HOTH

46. “Candy Store Rock”, P

47. “You Shook Me”, LZ

48. “Down By the Seaside”, PG

49. “Friends”, LZ III

50. “Thank You”, LZ II

51. “Royal Orleans”, P

52. “Ozone Baby”, C

53. “Nobody's Fault But Mine”, P

54. “Bonzo's Montreux”, C

55. “How Many More Times”, LZ

56. “I'm Gonna Crawl”, ITTOD

57. “Trampled Under Foot”, PG

58. “The Song Remains the Same”, HOTH

59. “Black Country Woman”, PG

60. “Sick Again”, PG

61. “For Your Life”, P

62. “Darlene”, C

63. “Over the Hills and Far Away”, HOTH

64. “Celebration Day”, LZ III

65. “All My Love”, ITTOD

66. “Hot Dog”, ITTOD

67. “Boogie With Stu”, PG

68. “We're Gonna Grove”, C

69. “Your Time is Gonna Come”, LZ

70. “Black Mountain Side”, LZ

71. “Out on the Tiles”, LZ III

72. “The Wanton Song”, PG

73. “South Bound Saurez”, ITTOD

74. “Poor Tom”, C

75. “Carouselambra”, ITTOD

76. “Hats Off to Roy Harper”, LZ III

77. “Bron-Yr-Aur”, PG

78. “Night Flight”, PG

79. “Tea For One”, P

80. “In the Evening”, ITTOD

All Songs, Best to Worst: Audioslave

Like anyone with good taste in music I was saddened to hear of the untimely passing of Chris Cornell, one of the most gifted singers of his generation, certainly one of my favourites. I thought it would be appropriate to kick off this third round of Ranking All Songs (first batch since last December) with some of Cornell's and since I haven't heard all of Soundgarden's songs I'm going to rank all of Audioslave's songs.

Audioslave was definitely a unique band during its short lifespan in the 2000's. It mixed hard rock with the 90's alternative sound. This is hardly surprising given where Chris Cornell came from as well as the other three bandmates, the instrumentalists from Rage Against the Machine. The band didn't start off too well. The band's name was rather dull. In addition the first album wasn't great; the songs mostly sounded the same and their sound was basically just Rage but with a different singer. But there were a couple hits that rocked well. With their second album, the band matured to become more than the sum of its parts and had established its own sound. The third album – the best in my opinion – continued expanding the band's sonic palette with forays into funk rock and R&B. The band only made three albums, but they're decent modern rock albums and we should be thankful for the time we had with Audioslave. So read on and enjoy my ranking of all 36 of Audioslave's songs from best to worst.

1. “Be Yourself”, Out of Exile (2005)

2. “Like A Stone”, Audioslave (2002)

3. “Doesn't Remind Me”, OOE

4. “Shadow On the Sun”, A

5. “Revelations”, Revelations (2006)

6. “#1 Zero”, OOE

7. “Moth”, R

8. “Until We Fall”, R

9. “Gasoline”, A

10. “Shape of Things to Come”, R

11. “Cochise”, A

12. “Set it Off”, A

13. “Jewel of the Summertime”, R

14. “Out of Exile”, OOE

15. “Man or Animal”, OOE

16. “Your Time Has Come”, OOE

17. “One and the Same”, R

18. “Getaway Car”, A

19. “Broken City”, R

20. “I Am the Highway”, A

21. “Show Me How to Live”, A

22. “Dandelion”, OOE

23. “The Curse”, OOE

24. “Nothing Left to Say But Goodbye”, R

25. “What You Are”, A

26. “Yesterday to Tomorrow”, OOE

27. “Sound of a Gun”, R

28. “Somedays”, R

29. “The Worm”, OOE

30. “Drown Me Slowly”, OOE

31. “Light My Way”, A

32. “Original Fire”, R

33. “Hypnotize”, A

34. “Exploder”, A

35. “Wide Awake”, R

36. “The Last Remaining Light”, A

All Songs, Best to Worst: Cream

There have been a lot of great rock supergroups over the years, but none of them quite measure up to the high standard established by the first successful supergroup, Cream. The number of bands and artists that have drawn influence from Cream defies quantification. Their soothing, exciting, unorthodox blend of blues and psychedelic rock created a wonderful sound that was often imitated but never duplicated. It also helps that each of its three members – guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker – were masters of their respective instruments, giving the band a unique talent for free-form instrumental jams. They're a band that I listen to constantly, so to round off this second trilogy of every song countdowns is my list of all of Cream's 34 songs from best to worst. This list includes all of their studio songs from their four albums. The live songs form those albums don't count.

1. “Sunshine of Your Love”, Disraeli Gears (1967)

2. “Toad”, Fresh Cream (1966)

3. “White Room”, Wheels of Fire (1968)

4. “Strange Brew”, DG

5. “Spoonful”, FC

6. “I Feel Free”, FC

7. “Tales of Brave Ulysses”, DG

8. “Sitting on Top of the World”, WoF

9. “Sweet Wine”, FC

10. “NSU”, FC

11. “World of Pain”, DG

12. “We're Going Wrong”, DG

13. “Deserted Cities of the Heart”, WoF

14. “Cat's Squirrel”, FC

15. “Born Under a Bad Sign”, WoF

16. “Dance the Night Away”, DG

17. “Outside Woman Blues”, DG

18. “Those Were the Days”, WoF

19. “Dreaming”, FC

20. “Rollin' and Tumblin'”, FC

21. “Four Until Late”, FC

22. “What a Bringdown”, Goodbye (1969)

23. “Sleepy Time” FC

24. “Blue Condition”, DG

25. “Pressed Rat and Warthog”, WoF

26. “Politician”, WoF

27. “Badge”, G

28. “I'm So Glad”, FC

29. “Take It Back”, DG

30. “As You Said”, WoF

31. “Passing the Time”, WoF

32. “Anyone for Tennis”, G

33. “Mother's Lament”, DG

34. “Doing that Scrapyard Thing”, G

All Songs, Best to Worst: Black Sabbath (Original Lineup)

   A legendary, grim, hulking mololith of power and doom which appears every so often when the planets align: this is the perfect way to describe the original line-up of Black Sabbath, the fathers of heavy metal music. People love to have the debate about who exactly invented the genre, with some attributing it to Led Zeppelin, others to bands such as Blue Cheer or Cream. While there were certainly many bands that produced hard rock, Black Sabbath was much different. They down-tune their guitars, they slightly eased the pace (sometimes), and most importantly they included dark and serious subject matter into their lyrics. With Tony Iommi's incredible riff-writing ability and Ozzy Osbourne's crazed energy, the band embodied a spirit of mystery, unorthodoxy, and raw power. The number of bands that wouldn't exist had it not been for Black Sabbath undoubtedly number in the thousands.

   For me, the original line-up of Black Sabbath is one of those bands whom I would genuinely feel excited about upon picking up one of their albums for the first time. I almost crapped myself when I heard that 3/4 of the original members were getting together to record a new album in 2013, during my lifetime! While I do enjoy the Ronnie James Dio era of Sabbath, their best years were the Ozzy years, no doubt. I'll listen to any one of those nine albums any time. So today, let's pay tribute to one of the all-time greats and rank all 72 of original Black Sabbath's songs. This list will include songs from their debut album (1970) all the way to Never Say Die! (1978), and will also include 2013's 13. Sorry, no live albums. Let's go!

1. “Iron Man”, Paranoid (1970)

2. “Black Sabbath”, Black Sabbath (1970)

3. “War Pigs”, Prnd

4. “Children of the Grave”, Master of Reality (1971)

5. “Paranoid”, Prnd

6. “Symptom of the Universe”, Sabotage (1975)

7. “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

8. “Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.”, BS

9. “Electric Funeral”, Prnd

10. “End of the Beginning”, 13 (2013)

11. “Hand of Doom”, Prnd

12. “Snowblind”, Vol. 4 (1972)

13. “Supernaut”, V4

14. “A National Acrobat”, SBS

15. “Sweet Leaf”, MoR

16. “The Wizard”, BS

17. “The Thrill of it All”, Sbtg

18. “Lord of This World”, MoR

19. “Wicked World”, BS

20. “Cornucopia”, V4

21. “Planet Caravan”, Prnd

22. “A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning”, BS

23. “Age of Reason”, 13

24. “Sabbra Cadabra”, SBS

25. “After Forever”, MoR

26. “Hard Road”, Never Say Die! (1978)

27. “Solitude”, MoR

28. “You Won't Change Me”, Technical Ecstasy (1976)

29. “Killing Yourself to Live”, SBS

30. “Rat Salad”, Prnd

31. “Megalomania”, Sbtg

32. “Loner”, 13

33. “Johnny Blade”, NSD

34. “Hole in the Sky”, Sbtg

35. “Live Forever”, 13

36. “Into the Void”, MoR

37. “Fairies Wear Boots”, Prnd

38. “Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes”, V4

39. “Supertzar”, Sbtg

40. “Looking For Today”, SBS

41. “Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener”, V4

42. “Tomorrow's Dreams”, V4

43. “Dirty Women”, TE

44. “Rock N' Roll Doctor”, TE

45. “Back Street Kids”, TE

46. “St. Vitus' Dance”, V4

47. “Over to You”, NSD

48. “Air Dance”, NSD

49. “The Writ”, Sbtg

50. “Dear Father”, 13

51. “Zeitgeist”, 13

52. “She's Gone”, TE

53. “Damaged Soul”, 13

54. “All Moving Parts (Stand Still)”, TE

55. “Never Say Die”, NSD

56. “Swinging the Chain”, NSD

57. “Spiral Architect”, SBS

58. “Embryo”, MoR

59. “Junior's Eyes”, NSD

60. “Breakout”, NSD

61. “Shock Wave”, NSD

62. “Fluff”, SBS

63. “Laguna Sunrise”, V4

64. “God Is Dead?”, 13

65. “Who Are You?”, Sbtg

66. “Gypsy”, TE

67. “Am I Going Insane? (Radio)”, Sbtg

68. “Don't Start (Too Late)”, Sbtg

69. “Orchid”, MoR

70. “FX”, V4

71. “It's Alright”, TE

72. “Changes”, V4

All Songs, Best to Worst: The Police

It's time to bring back the series that I started this past August: ranking an artist's every recorded song from best to worst. This time we're taking a look at The Police. What can I say about The Police that hasn't already been said? They're one of the greatest and most commercially successful rock bands ever. Everybody loves them. The debate about which of their five albums was best still rages on. You can barely go through one day without hearing at least one of their songs, even though they split up back in the mid-1980's. They came of age during the punk era, but added reggae to their style and presented it in a tight, easily digestible pop-rock package. The Police released five albums between 1978 and 1983. They're all great albums and they're pretty easy to find. For this list list I'm including every song from those five albums, nothing more, nothing less. Also, this is just my personal take on things; feel free to disagree. So join me as we count down all of The Police's 53 songs, from best to worst.

1. “Walking on the Moon”, Regatta de Blanc (1979)

2. “Don't Stand So Close to Me”, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)

3. “Message in a Bottle”, RdB

4. “Every Breath You Take”, Synchronicity (1983)

5. “Next to You”, Outlandos d'Amour (1978)

6. “Roxanne”, OdA

7. “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, Ghost in the Machine (1981)

8. “Can't Stand Losing You”, OdA

9. “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”, ZM

10. “Synchronicity II”, Sy

11. “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, Sy

12. “Invisible Sun”, GitM

13. “So Lonely”, OdA

14. “Hole in My Life”, OdA

15. “Driven To Tears”, ZM

16. “It's Alright for You”, RdB

17. “When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around”, ZM

18. “Bring On the Night”, RdB

19. “Synchronicity I”, Sy

20. “Bombs Away”, ZM

21. “Truth Hits Everybody”, OdA

22. “The Bed's Too Big Without You”, RdB

23. “One World (Not Three)”, GitM

24. “Spirits in the Material World”, GitM

25. “Omegaman”, GitM

26. “Secret Journey”, GitM

27. “The Other Way of Stopping”, ZM

28. “Walking in Your Footsteps”, Sy

29. “Hungry for You”, GitM

30. “Murder by Numbers”, Sy

31. “Peanuts”, OdA

32. “Regatta de Blanc”, RdB

33. “Does Everyone Stare?”, TdB

34. “Shadows in the Rain”, ZM

35. “Darkness”, GitM

36. “Oh My God”, Sy

37. “Miss Gradenko”, Sy

38. “King of Pain”, Sy

39. “No Time This Time”, RdB

40. “Contact”, RdB

41. “Tea in the Sahara”, Sy

42. “Canary in a Coalmine”, ZM

43. “On Any Other Day”, RdB

44. “Demolition Man”, GitM

45. “Man in a Suitcase”, ZM

46. “Rehumanize Yourself”, GitM

47. “Born in the '50's”, OdA

48. “Masoko Tanga”, OdA

49. “Voices Inside My Head”, ZM

50. “Deathwish”, RdB

51. “Be My Girl – Sally”, OdA

52. “Behind My Camel”, ZM

53. “Mother”, Sy

All Songs, Best to Worst: Nine Inch Nails

Time for another ranking of all of an artist's songs. This week I'm evaluating every song of one of my favourite bands of the past few years, Nine Inch Nails. What can you say about NIN? They're one of the greatest industrial groups ever and certainly the most commercially successful. With a career spanning approximately 28 years and eight full-length albums the group's sound has definitely evolved, covering such genres as dark synth-pop, industrial metal, art rock, electronica, and even dark ambient. It's not often that you'll hear two NIN albums that sound alike. What's really cool about Nine Inch Nails is that even though they're an industrial act their music isn't that hard to get into. While it often does include noise and distortion – as industrial groups are wont to do – NIN seldom shifts focus away from the melody and the dynamic and intense vocals of frontman Trent Reznor, making the music easier to digest. The lyrics are always captivating, focusing mostly on the exploration of the self (with occasional exceptions as with the album Year Zero). The first NIN album I listened to was 2005's With Teeth and I've been hooked ever since.

So let's rank these bad boys, shall we? The rules: what's included here is 7 studio albums as well as the one EP, Broken. I'm not including Ghosts I-IV, which is composed of 36 instrumental tracks that don't even have names. It's not a bad album, but I can't even remember half of its songs, let alone their titles! Also, no remixes, live tracks, or singles (like “Deep” or “The Perfect Drug”). Let's go.

1. “Closer”, The Downward Spiral (1994)

2. “Hurt”, TDS

3. “Mr. Self-Destruct”, TDS

4. “Down in It”, Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

5. “Happiness in Slavery”, Broken (1992)

6. “Reptile”, TDS

7. “Head Like A Hole”, PHM

8. “Wish”, Broken

9. “March of the Pigs”, TDS

10. “Sunspots”, With Teeth (2005)

11. “Even Deeper”, The Fragile (1999)

12. “Piggy”, TDS

13. “The Hand that Feeds”, WT

14. “Only”, WT

15. “Echoplex”, The Slip (2008)

16. “All Time Low”, Hesitation Marks (2013)

17. “Pinion”, Broken

18. “Last”, Broken

19. “Every Day is Exactly the Same”, WT

20. “La Mer”, TF

21. “Terrible Lie”, PHM

22. “All the Love in the World”, WT

23. “Copy of A”, HM

24. “Various Methods of Escape”, HM

25. “I'm Looking Forward to Joining You Finally”, TF

26. “Came Back Haunted”, HM

27. “Eraser”, TDS

28. “Ripe (With Decay)”, TF

29. “Where is Everybody?”, TF

30. “The Mark Has Been Made”, TF

31. “Gave Up”, Broken

32. “Right Where it Belongs”, WT

33. “Me, I'm Not”, Year Zero (2007)

34. “The Warning”, Y0

35. “Somewhat Damaged”, TF

36. “That's What I Get”, PHM

37. “Demon Seed”, TS

38. “The Downward Spiral”, TDS

39. “Letting You”, TS

40. “The Great Below”, TF

41. “Something I Can Never Have”, PHM

42. “Find My Way”, HM

43. “The Good Soldier”, Y0

44. “Help Me I Am in Hell”, Broken

45. “The Way Out is Through”, TF

46. “Discipline”, TS

47. “We're in This Together”, TF

48. “Sanctified”, PHM

49. “Beside You in Time”, WT

50. “Into the Void”, TF

51. “Satellite”, HM

52. “The New Flesh”, TF

53. “The Becoming”, TDS

54. “The Greater Good”, Y0

55. “The Day the World Went Away”, TF

56. “Starfuckers, Inc.”, TF

57. “Zero-Sum”, Y0

58. “Survivalism”, Y0

59. “With Teeth”, WT

60. “The Wretched”, TF

61. “The Frail”, TF

62. “Ruiner”, TDS

63. “No, You Don't”, TF

64. “The Fragile”, TF

65. “Everything”, HM

66. “Physical (You're So)”, Broken

67. “Capital G”, Y0

68. “Vessel”, Y0

69. “God Given”, Y0

70. “Head Down”, TS

71. “The Line Begins to Blur”, WT

72. “Just Like You Imagined”, TF

73. “Love is Not Enough”, WT

74. “Corona Radiata”, TS

75. “The Four of Us Are Dying”, TS

76. “Pilgrimage”, TF

77. “Complication”, TF

78. “+Appendage”, TF

79. “Getting Smaller”, WT

80. “Underneath It All”, TF

81. “1,000,000”, TS

82. “10 Miles High”, TF

83. “Please”, TF

84. “I Would for You”, HM

85. “Sin”, PHM

86. “The Collector”, WT

87. “In Two”, HM

88. “Ringfinger”, PHM

89. “I Do Not Want This”, TDS

90. “The Beginning of the End”, Y0

91. “Suck”, Broken

92. “Kinda I Want To”, PHM

93. “The Big Come Down”, TF

94. “A Warm Place”, TDS

95. “Lights in the Sky”, TS

96. “Disappointed”, HM

97. “You Know What You Are?”, WT

98. “Meet Your Master”, Y0

99. “Big Man With a Gun”, TDS

100. “The Only Time”, PHM

101. “Hyperpower”, Y0

102. “Running”, HM

103. “My Violent Heart”, Y0

104. “Home”, WT

105. “The Great Destroyer”, Y0

106. “In This Twilight”, Y0

107. “While I'm Still Here”, HM

108. “Black Noise”, HM

109. “The Eater of Dreams”, HM

110. “999,999”, TS

111. “Heresy”, TDS

All Songs, Best to Worst: Guns N' Roses

   Hey guys. With the recent publication of my “Ranking Every PJ Harvey Song from Best to Least-Good”, I thought I'd take the time to write a corresponding list about all 76 of Guns N' Roses songs. If you've read my GNR posts from April, you'll already know how much I enjoy them. And how could you not? They're one of the greatest hard rock bands ever. So for that reason an introduction is probably not necessary here. If you like hard rock and you want to get into Guns N' Roses... oh who am I kidding, you probably already own their debut album, Appetite for Destruction. Just listen to it again and then start working your way through the Use Your Illusion albums.

   Since GNR didn't make all that many albums, I'm relaxing my criteria for this list. I am going to include songs from “The Spaghetti Incident?” (an album of punk covers) and Lies (an EP that's half acoustic, half false-live album). However, I'm not including songs from Live Era: 87-93. And yes, Chinese Democracy does count.

1. “Welcome to the Jungle”, Appetite for Destruction (1987)

2. “Sweet Child O' Mine”, AFD

3. “Paradise City”, AFD

4. “Coma”, Use Your Illusion I (1991)

5. “November Rain”, UYI1

6. “Civil War”, Use Your Illusion II (1991)

7. “Locomotive”, UYI2

8. “It's So Easy”, AFD

9. “Double Talkin' Jive”, UYI1

10. “Reckless Life”, Lies (1988)

11. “Bad Apples”, UYI1

12. “Nice Boys”, Lies

13. “Don't Cry”, UYI1

14. “Better”, Chinese Democracy (2008)

15. “Perfect Crime”, UYI1

16. “Estranged”, UYI2

17. “Down on the Farm”, “The Spaghetti Incident?” (1993)

18. “Since I Don't Have You”, TSI

19. “Dust N' Bones”, UYI1

20. “There Was A Time”, CD

21. “Mr. Brownstone”, AFD

22. “My Michelle”, AFD

23. “14 Years”, UYI2

24. “Chinese Democracy”, CD

25. “New Rose”, TSI

26. “Move to the City”, Lies

27. “Out Ta Get Me”, AFD

28. “The Garden”, UYI1

29. “Shotgun Blues”, UYI2

30. “Dead Horse”, UYI1

31. “Patience”, Lies

32. “Street of Dreams”, CD

33. “Get in the Ring”, UYI2

34. “Used to Love Her”, Lies

35. “Night Train”, AFD

36. “Bad Obsession”, UYI1

37. “Hair of the Dog”, TSI

38. “Black Leather”, TSI

39. “You're Crazy”, Lies

40. “Shackler's Revenge”, CD

41. “You Could Be Mine”, UYI2

42. “Rocket Queen”, AFD

43. “Buick Mackane”, TSI

44. “Mama Kin”, Lies

45. “Right Next Door to Hell”, UYI1

46. “Sorry”, CD

47. “So Fine”, UYI2

48. “Anything Goes”, AFD

49. “You're Crazy”, AFD

50. “Ain't it Fun”, TSI

51. “One in a Million”, Lies

52. “This I Love”, CD

53. “Garden of Eden”, UYI1

54. “Scraped”, CD

55. “Pretty Tied Up”, UYI2

56. “Think About You”, AFD

57. “I Don't Care About You”, TSI

58. “Breakdown”, UYI2

59. “Live and Let Die”, UYI1

60. “Riad N' the Bedouins”, CD

61. “Knockin' on Heaven's Door”, UYI2

62. “I.R.S.”, CD

63. “You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory”, TSI

64. “Raw Power”, TSI

65. “Yesterdays”, UYI2

66. “Prostitute”, CD

67. “You Ain't the First”, UYI1

68. “Attitude”, TSI

69. “Don't Cry (Alternate Lyrics)”, UYI2

70. “Catcher in the Rye”, CD

71. “Human Being”, TSI

72. “Don't Damn Me”, UYI1

73. “Madagascar”, CD

74. “Look at Your Game, Girl”, TSI

75. “Back Off Bitch”, UYI1

76. “My World”, UYI2

All Songs, Best to Worst: PJ Harvey

   So back in April I wrote some articles on Guns N' Roses and it was a hoot, so I figured I'll try writing something else music-related. I heard that in June Consequence of Sound ranked every Red Hot Chili Peppers song – all 236 of them – from best to worst. It's a brilliant idea, right? Why didn't I think of that? I thought it would be cool to do the same to an artist that I really like. And that's what I'm going to do here, starting with PJ Harvey's 107 songs. The first time I listened to PJ Harvey's music was in 2012 (when I tried Rid of Me) and since then I've been working my way through her discography to the point where I now own all nine of her albums.

   “Who is PJ Harvey?” you might ask. Polly Jean Harvey is an alternative rock singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Dorset, England. She's probably most well-known for her 90's works, though her 21^st century material has seen plenty of success as well (she's the only artist to have won the Mercury Prize twice). I guess what drew me into her type of music was the raw emotion of her vocals, the stark lyrics, and the instrumental intensity of her 1990's material. Over the years her albums have taken on a wide variety of musical genres. Her first three albums were very alternative, with an indie rock feel and mix of blues rock as well. The fourth album, Is This Desire?, was again alternative, but was more experimental and had some electronic elements. In the first half of the 2000's, PJ Harvey released two more alt-rock albums, the first with a more pop feel (but still good) and the second which was kind of all over the place in terms of genre, but still raw and unpredictable. Harvey's sound took a sharp turn with the release of 2007's White Chalk, a piano-driven album that delves into the realm of gothic eeriness. Her latest two albums – the latter of which was released just three months ago – continued the trend of PJ singing in a higher register about social issues and history in an indie/folk rock style. In short, no two of her albums sound alike.

   If any of this sounds interesting to you, then I'd advise checking some of these songs out starting at the top. And just for the record, this list only includes songs from PJ Harvey's nine studio albums. This list won't contain “Shaker Aamer”, any collaborative songs, or any special edition-type releases. So here we go.

1. “Dress”, Dry (1992)

2. “A Place Called Home”, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000)

3. “Down by the Water”, To Bring You My Love (1995)

4. “Send His Love to Me”, TBYML

5. “Rub 'til it Bleeds”, Rid of Me (1993)

6. “The Last Living Rose”, Let England Shake (2011)

7. “The Wheel”, The Hope Six Demolition Project (2016)

8. “Happy and Bleeding”, Dry

9. “Rid of Me”, ROM

10. “Let England Shake”, LES

11. “Oh My Lover”, Dry

12. “Is This Desire?”, Is This Desire? (1998)

13. “The Life & Death of Mr. Badmouth”, Uh Huh Her (2004)

14. “A Perfect Day Elise”, ITD

15. “When Under Ether”, White Chalk (2007)

16. “To Bring You My Love”, TBMYL

17. “Beautiful Feeling”, SFTCSFTS

18. “On Battleship Hill”, LES

19. “The Words that Maketh Murder”, LES

20. “Fountain”, Dry

21. “C'mon Billy”, TBYML

22. “The Devil”, WC

23. “Sheela Na Gig”, Dry

24. “All and Everyone”, LES

25. “O Stella”, Dry

26. “Big Exit”, SFTCSFTS

27. “This is Love”, SFTCSFTS

28. “The Garden”, ITD

29. “Legs”, ROM

30. “The Glorious Land”, LES

31. “Good Fortune”, SFTCSFTS

32. “My Beautiful Leah”, ITD

33. “The Community of Hope”, TH6DP

34. “Hanging in the Wire”, LES

35. “Water”, Dry

36. “The Dancer”, TBMYL

37. “The Wind”, ITD

38. “River Anacostia”, TH6DP

39. “Pocket Knife”, UHH

40. “Silence”, WC

41. “One Line”, SFTCSFTS

42. “A Line in the Sand”, TH6DP

43. “Hook”, ROM

44. “Man-Size”, ROM

45. “Dear Darkness”, WC

46. “You Come Through”, UHH

47. “Ecstasy”, ROM

48. “The Mountain”, WC

49. “The Letter”, UHH

50. “Meet Ze Monsta”, TBYML

51. “Working for the Man”, TBMYL

52. “The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore”, SFTCSFTS

53. “Grow Grow Grow”, WC

54. “The Ministry of Social Affairs”, TH6DP

55. “To Talk to You”, WC

56. “The Slow Drug”, UHH

57. “Victory”, Dry

58. “Plants and Rags”, Dry

59. “You Said Something”, SFTCSFTS

60. “The Ministry of Defence”, TH6DP

61. “Hair”, Dry

62. “Missed”, ROM

63. “Me-Jane”, ROM

64. “Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln”, TH6DP

65. “We Float”, SFTCSFTS

66. “Angelene”, ITD

67. “Dry”, ROM

68. “Cat on the Wall”, UHH

69. “This Mess We're in”, SFTCSFTS

70. “It's You”, UHH

71. “Long Snake Moan”, TBYML

72. “Who the Fuck?”, UHH

73. “Shame”, UHH

74. “No Child of Mine”, UHH

75. “The Orange Monkey”, TH6DP

76. “Catherine”, ITD

77. “In the Dark Places”, LES

78. “Before Departure”, WC

79. “Snake”, ROM

80. “The Desperate Kingdom of Love”, UHH

81. “The Sky Lit Up”, ITD

82. “Chain of Keys”, TH6DP

83. “White Chalk”, WC

84. “Kamikaze”, SFTCSFTS

85. “50 ft Queenie”, ROM

86. “The Piano”, WC

87. “Electric Light”, ITD

88. “The Darker Days of Me & Him”, UHH

89. “The River”, ITD

90. “Horses in My Dreams”, SFTCSFTS

91. “Joe”, Dry

92. “Teclo”, TBYML

93. “Written on the Forehead”, LES

94. “Medicinals”, TH6DP

95. “Yuri G”, ROM

96. “Dollar, Dollar”, TH6DP

97. “Bitter Branches”, LES

98. “Joy”, ITD

99. “Broken Harp”, WC

100. “Highway 61 Revisited”, ROM

101. “The End”, UHH

102. “England”, LES

103. “I Think I'm a Mother”, TBYML

104. “No Girl So Sweet”, ITD

105. “The Colour of the Earth”, LES

106. Untitled (seagulls), UHH

107. “Man-Size Sextet”, ROM