Greatest Hits albums are a great way to introduce yourself to a musician, especially when you're too young to appreciate the meat of an artist's career. I was just reading a list of the best "best of" albums, and it got me thinking about my favourite "Greatest Hits" collections.

Neil Young - Decade

Why It Mattered
In the 1980s, I was a member of Columbia House. You got a bunch of CDs for a penny if you bought a certain amount at regular price over the next few years or something like that. From Columbia House, I ordered Neil Young's double album Decade and I was smitten. If you don't know Neil, start with this compilation and fall in love.

Alice In Chains - Greatest Hits

Why It Mattered
Only ten songs deep, this is Dirt and more. If I just want a power punch of 90s nostalgia, this is my go-to album. Everyone talks about Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Alice In Chains belongs in that group.

The Beatles - Red and Blue double albums

Why It Mattered
The red one covered 1962–1966 and the blue one covered 1967-1970 and if you missed the 60s this was an awesome way to familiarize oneself with the Beatles catalogue. Four CDs in total, all the hits are here from arguably the best band in the history of rock n' roll.

Blue Rodeo - Greatest Hits

Why It Mattered
I started out as a Blue Rodeo fan. I loved "Try" and "Diamond Mine", but then I lost track of these guys. Maybe I felt they were a little too country for me, I dunno, but this fantastic greatest hits compilation reminded me how awesome Blue Rodeo are.

Alice Cooper - Greatest Hits

Why It Mattered
In the late 80s and very early 90s I would hang at Joe's where his brother Frank would show off their stereo that actually went to 11. They cranked a lot of Ozzy and Van Halen and Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits. The Ozzy was alright and the Van Halen was okay, but the Alice Cooper struck a chord. I still love this album.

The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks

Why It Mattered
For people born in the 70s or later, Hot Rocks should be a prescribed rite of passage. My father had this double album in vinyl and that's when I first discovered it. It's hit laden, as you can imagine, and even though I don't consider myself a Rolling Stones fan today, I most definitely was for a few years in the 80s thanks to Hot Rocks.

James Taylor - Greatest Hits

Why It Mattered
This is actually the only James Taylor album I own and I don't feel compelled to buy another. "Sweet Baby James", song #4 on this compact disc, had such an impact on me, I named my first born son after it.

Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits

Why It Mattered
Such sweet melodies, such a wonderful blend of voices, such American classics. I had to to play a little catch-up here so I delved into their Greatest Hits while in high school. Their recordings are just so damn pretty I'd pause Appetite for Destruction just to chill to "The Sounds of Silence".

Kenny Rogers - Greatest Hits

Why It Mattered
Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Why does Kenny Roger's Greatest Hits matter? It's all right here in black and white. When it comes to the music you like, where you come from will always play a role.

Bob Marley - Legend

Why It Mattered
Speaking of rites of passage, Legend from Bob Marley is essential listening for every teenager. I've since accumulated several other Bob Marley albums, but I still find myself going back to Legend when I'm in the mood for a little reggae.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Skynyrd's Innyrds

Why It Mattered
I must confess, for a period in the early 90s, I really got into "Free Bird". There's a ten minute outtake version that appears on Skynyrd's Innyrds that I would play over and over and over again. I'm not ashamed to admit I still love that version.

Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits

Why It Mattered
I'm still searching for a female voice in rock that can do what Janis did. Some say Pearl is all you need from Janis, but Pearl doesn't have "Piece of My Heart" or "Summertime".

Billy Idol - Vital Idol

Why It Mattered
Between Duran Duran and Guns N' Roses, there was Billy Idol. Billy Idol remixed the hits form his first two albums and released Vital Idol in 1987. Actually, I'm told it came out in 1985, but I didn't buy the cassette until 1987. I've since picked up the CD (which is now ripped to MP3) because it is, after all, vital Idol.

The Guess Who - The Best of the Guess Who

Why It Mattered
As a kid, I really only knew "American Woman" and "These Eyes" until I heard "Share the Land" on Q107. I needed to hear what else these Winnipeggers were up to as they paved the way for the many Canadian bands I already had in my Walkman. This album introduced me to "Laughing", "No Time", "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" and other fantastic Cummings / Bachman classics.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle

Why It Mattered
CCR was an absolutely brilliant rock band with that swampy Southern feel. If you're about my age, or younger, this is really all you need. It's 20 of their best singles essential listening for anyone with a pulse.

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50 Most Memorable Moments in Sesame Street History - We throw around the word "love" these days. We love our sports teams, our new jacket and that brand of cereal. We love so much stuff, love doesn't mean what it used to. The brand has been diluted.

I'm bringing integrity back to the word "love" with this concluding sentence. I love this collection of the best Sesame Street bits like you wouldn't believe.

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I was checking out a list of the highest grossing movies of all-time, and I realized there were many I had never seen. Below is a partial list of movies that made a lot of coin but were never seen by yours truly.

• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• The Passion of the Christ
• Men in Black
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Troy
• Meet the Fockers
• What Women Want
• The World Is Not Enough
• Dinosaur
• National Treasure
• Fantastic Four
• Ocean's Thirteen
• Mulan
• Van Helsing
• Jumanji
• The Village
• You've Got Mail
• Eragon
• Wild Hogs
• 2 Fast 2 Furious
• Constantine
• Flightplan

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In honour of sweet Mother Earth on Earth Day, here are songs in my collection with "earth" in the title.

• Not to Touch the Earth - The Doors
• Peace on Earth - U2
• Face of the Earth - Joel Plaskett Emergency
• Earth Angel - The Starlighters
• Mother Earth - Memphis Slim
• Planet Earth - Duran Duran
• Earthcrosser - Veruca Salt
• Fire & Earth - Xclan
• Here on Earth - Crash Test Dummies
• Revolution Earth - B-52's
• Earthquake Weather - Beck
• In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3 - Coheed and Cambria
• Earth / Monstrous Hummingbird - Rheostatics
• Final Thoughts and the Last Day on Earth - David Usher
• The Last Day on Earth - Marilyn Manson
• Tales of a Scorched Earth - Smashing Pumpkins
• Back on Earth - Ozzy Osbourne
• Last Night on Earth - U2
• Fallin' Off the Face of the Earth - Neil Young
• Earth, Sky & C. - I Mother Earth
• Earth Angel - Death Cab for Cutie
• Planet Earth - Eskimo Joe
• I Feel the Earth Move - Carole King
• Children Play With Earth - Arrested Development

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in March of 2008. That's some big shiny dominance!

1. wedding playlist
2. big shiny tunes 3
3. wedding playlists
4. big shiny tunes 2
5. big shiny tunes 4
6. big shiny tunes 5
7. big shiny tunes 7
8. bill barilko
9. torontomike.com
10. edgefest 2008

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in February of 2008. The three wedding searches below all resolve at this entry. That's one of only a handful of entries on this site with "sponsored links" at the bottom. Move over Daddy Warbucks!

1. wedding playlist
2. wedding playlists
3. marge simpson nude
4. tie domi
5. big shiny tunes 3
6. toronto blog
7. big shiny tunes 4
8. big shiny tunes 7
9. i choo choo choose you
10. wedding song playlist

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in January of 2008. Once again, this list is dominated by people looking for Ralph Wiggums' Valentine's Day card. "Choo choo" related searches hold down three of the top five spots. I'm pleased to see "toronto blog" breaking into the top four and surprised to see "saint ralph soundtrack" ranking. Apparently, a cable channel in the New York area is playing the heck out of that film and it's benefiting from the exposure.

1. i choo choo choose you
2. big shiny tunes 7
3. choo choo choose you
4. toronto blog
5. choo choo
6. saint ralph soundtrack
7. celebrity death watch
8. x games soundtrack
9. big shiny tunes 8
10. bill barilko

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retroCRUSH posted the best duets ever, so I've decided to follow their lead and throw down my top ten duets.

I've disqualified all duets from bands that are naturally duets. For example, Simon & Garfunkel, Sonny & Cher and Stars. Here are my favourite ten.

10. Eminem and Dido - Stan

9. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush - Don't Give Up

8. Kim Gordon and B-Real - I Love You Mary Jane

7. David Bowie and Freddie Mercury - Under Pressure

6. Ray Charles and Betty Carter - Baby It's Cold Outside

5. Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash - Redemption Song

4. Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York

3. Method Man and Mary J. Blige - You're All I Need

2. Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong - Summertime

1. Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder - Hunger Strike

Honourable Mentions: Eddie Vedder and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, Chuck D and Scott Ian, Shabba Ranks and Maxi Priest, Neil Young and Randy Bachman, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, Eminem and Dr. Dre, Tom Wilson and Sarah McLachlan.

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I like to litter my speech with pop culture references. Often I'll reference a television show or a movie. Most of my television references comes from "Seinfeld" or "The Simpsons", although I have been telling colleagues to "get in that ass, Larry" lately.

Although I reference well over twenty movies, here are the twenty movies I most frequently reference when liberally sprinkling such pop culture nuggets amidst my words of wisdom.

• Pulp Fiction
• The Shawshank Redemption
• Office Space
• Fight Club
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Star Wars (all six)
• Goodfellas
• The Usual Suspects
• Scarface
• The Godfather (I and II)
• Batman
• The Natural
• Braveheart
• The Naked Gun
• The Big Lebowski
• The Princess Bride
• Teen Wolf
• Big Fish
• Reservoir Dogs
• American Beauty

That list is by no means conclusive, but if you watch those films you'll probably get 90% of what I'm saying.

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I just posted 50 "love" songs that are suitable for a wedding. That was by request from Bella Rose down under. As I was putting that list together, I realized there are plenty of songs with "love" in the title that would be totally inappropriate for a wedding.

Here are 25 "love" songs you should never play at a wedding.

• I'm Not In Love - 10cc
• Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Neil Young
• Love Hurts - Nazareth
• Love Bites - Def Leppard
• You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
• Love Removal Machine - The Cult
• You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told) - The White Stripes
• What's Love Got To Do With It? - Tina Turner
• Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers
• Not In Love - Platinum Blonde
• Love Buzz - Nirvana
• Tainted Love - Soft Cell
• If Love Is A Red Dress (Hang Me In Rags) - Maria McKee
• Every Day I Love You Less and Less - Kaiser Chiefs
• No More I Love You's - Annie Lennox
• Don't You Love Me Anymore? - Joe Cocker
• Used To Love Her - Guns N' Roses
• Where Did Our Love Go? - The Supremes
• Love Stinks - J. Geils Band
• You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - The Beatles
• Muscle of Love - Alice Cooper
• Love in an Elevator - Aerosmith
• Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
• Love Is A Battlefield - Pat Benatar
• I Love You Mary Jane - Sonic Youth & Cypress Hill

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I put together a 100 song wedding playlist when my brother got married in 2006. An Australian with the fantastic name Bella Rose chimed in this morning with this comment:

Hi Mike!!

Thank god I found your post! Your list is exceptional!!!!!!!

I am trying to compile a list of songs for my step daughter, she is getting married in March, and she wants me to pick the music!! It's a hard one, they aren't really into much, just R&B, so I was wondering if you have any ideas for that.

She initially asked me to pick songs that have the word LOVE in them OMG!!!!! It can be any era, or genre except for Country LOL!.

So....you can imagine...I have been on the computer for 2 days trying to find things...oh well it will be an awesome day, and I am privileged to get to pick the music I guess? :P

Ok enough rambling from me, but if anyone has any ideas please let me know! My email addy is bella_rose32@hotmail.com

Cheers from Australia
Bella Rose

At one point I actually listed my ten favourite songs with "love" in the title, but that seems insufficient. Bella Rose needs more help than that.

Here are 50 "love" songs suitable for a wedding.

• Let There Be Love - Oasis
• The Face Of Love - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Eddie Vedder
• Love Is A Rose - Neil Young
• Feel Like Makin' Love - Bad Company
• Dedicated To The One I Love - The Mamas & The Papas
• Let Love Rule - Lenny Kravitz
• Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
• All My Love - Led Zeppelin
• Give My Love To Rose - Johnny Cash
• Love - John Lennon
• Prisoner Of Love - James Brown
• The Power Of Love - Huey Lewis & The News
• We Are In Love - Harry Connick, Jr.
• Radar Love - Golden Earring
• Bizzarre Love Triangle - New Order
• I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner
• Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley
• Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
• I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
• Friday I'm In Love - The Cure
• Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream
• I'll Make Love To You - Boyz II Men
• One Love - Bob Marley
• Is This Love - Bob Marley
• To Love Somebody - Blue Rodeo
• Cradle of Love - Billy Idol
• All You Need Is Love - The Beatles
• Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe - Barry White
• I Love You - Barenaked Ladies
• Love Shack - B-52's
• I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) - Aretha Franklin
• Crown of Love - Arcade Fire
• Love Is - Allanah Myles
• Love and Happiness - Al Green
• How Deep Is Your Love? - The Bee Gees
• Stand Inside Your Love - Smashing Pumpkins
• I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder
• Love Rescue Me - U2
• Greatest Love Of All - Whitney Houston
• All For Love - Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting
• This Maniac's In Love With You - Alice Cooper
• I'm Still In Love With You - Al Green
• Love Song - 311
• Love, Reign O'er Me - The Who
• Sowing The Seeds Of Love - Tears For Fears
• Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
• Love Spreads - Stone Roses
• True Love Waits - Radiohead
• Somebody To Love - Queen
• State Of Love And Trust - Pearl Jam

Later today I'll post 25 more "love" songs you don't want to play at a wedding.

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When 2007 came to a close, I had fun putting together a list of my favourite songs and my favourite television shows of the year. I'd love to be able to put together a list of my favourite movies of 2007, but I can't do that. Nope, that ain't how I roll.

I'm typically a solid year behind in my movie watching. I catch 90% of my movies on The Movie Network On Demand, a Canadian digital channel I subscribe to. Movies don't get On Demand status until well after they're released on DVD. Night at the Museum, a movie I watched last night, only hit On Demand yesterday, a full 54 weeks after it was released to theatres. The other 10% of movies I see are either in the movie theatre, on DVD or regular television.

What I ought to do is a best of 2006 list at the end of 2007 and a best of 2007 list at the end of 2008. Or, I can just list the ten best films I saw in 2007, regardless of when the movie was released. Heck, I'll do that right now.

1. The Queen
2. Knocked Up
3. The Simpsons Movie
4. C.R.A.Z.Y.
5. The Pursuit of Happyness
6. Pan's Labyrinth
7. The History Boys
8. The Last King of Scotland
9. Blood Diamond
10. Ratatouille

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in December of 2007. I'm still puzzled by all the people looking for Ralph Wiggums' Valentine's Day card. I would have guessed that's more of a February surge. And what's with people searching for nude pictures of Marge? Do they realize she's a cartoon character?

1. i choo choo choose you
2. big shiny tunes 4
3. big shiny tunes 7
4. marge simpson nude
5. christmas with a kick
6. torontomike.com
7. choo choo choose you
8. toronto blog
9. bill barilko
10. christmas with a kick ii

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My radio is tuned to 102.1 as I listen to their top 102 countdown of 2007. I can't remember the last December 31 I didn't do this, it's sort of an annual tradition of mine.

This year I'll record the top ten live as I listen. Reload this page every few minutes and you'll get an updated list. When it's done, I'll throw my two cents at the bottom of this entry.

1. Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
2. Incubus - Anna Molly
3. Alexisonfire - Boiled Frogs
4. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
5. Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
6. Linkin Park - What I've Done
7. Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment
8. Rise Against - Prayer Of The Refugee
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh)
10. The Fratellis - Flathead

Only two songs appeared on both this CFNY list and my personal top ten of 2007. There would have been more overlap, but I delisted a few of their picks because the song was released in 2006.

Nothing shocking here. I'm still surprised at how overrated that Finger Eleven song is. I'm not a huge fan of that Chili Pepper song, either. I'm a big fan of 60% of this top ten, including their choice for #1.

Bonus thought: How old is Martin Streek? He's been on the Edge forever. Seriously, I can't remember listening to 102.1 without Streek. He's got to be pushing 60.

That's it for me, I'm logging off for the year... Happy New Year everyone.

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Television got jealous of music after I posted my ten favourite songs of 2007 and demanded fair treatment. I didn't want any trouble and caved immediately.

Here are my ten favourite television shows in 2007. These are shows that aired new episodes during the 2007 calendar year, so shows like "Arrested Development" I revisited in DVD were ineligible.

10. Rescue Me

I watched this show for years until a series of weak episodes caused me to bail. Then, I caught a good episode and came back for the season finale which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was pretty much guaranteed to make this list because I only watched about 12 series all year.

9. Family Guy

Can I lump "Family Guy" in with "American Dad"? This show is good for shits and giggles, and that's not a bad thing.

8. Dexter

Season two of "Dexter" was pretty interesting. I don't know how long this series will go before it gets repetitive, but I hope it has at least two more seasons in it.

7. 30 Rock

I didn't watch a minute of this show during its first season and then I caught a rerun during the summer. I liked what I saw and came back for more. Now I'm a big fan.

6. The Simpsons

Me and the kids appointment view this show every Sunday night. I've been doing that for a couple of decades. You knew this was going to show up on this list somewhere.

5. The Office

"The Office" is my favourite network series. It's plain fun. I still can't believe the Yanks took a brilliant BBC show and made it better.

4. This American Life

There were only six episodes of this documentary series but each one touched me in a profound way. There is no series on television as thought provoking and interesting as this one.

3. Flight of the Conchords

Pure hilarity. It's not only completely hilarious, but the music is great too. Bonus!

2. The Sopranos

Fuggedaboutit. Tony: RIP.

1. Curb Your Enthusiasm

There was something about the dynamic of this season that slayed me. Larry and the Blacks was a perfect blend and Leon stole the show. Get in that ass, Larry!

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Oh 2007, where have you gone? It seems like only a year ago you showed up, all fresh and new. Now, it's time to say goodbye.

It wasn't easy trying to come up with my ten favourite songs from 2007. I had "Nature of the Experiment" from Tokyo Police Club on here before I realized it was released in 2006. Same for "Lazy Eye" from Silversun Pickups. Then, I had a couple of Arcade Fire tunes on here before I started making cuts. It turns out I like Neon Bible better as an album than a collection of singles.

Here's my 10 favourite songs of 2007 complete with videos so you can hear the great tunes you missed this year.

10. "Flathead" by The Fratellis

9. "1234" by Feist

8. "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn & John

7. "The Last Fight" by Velvet Revolver

6. "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters

5. "Empty Walls" by Serj Tankian

4. "Backed Out On The..." by Kevin Drew

3. "Is There A Ghost" by Band of Horses

2. "Take Me To The Riot" by Stars

1. "Icky Thump" by The White Stripes

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I've got a little thing for lists. I'll throw anything in a list. Top ten movies with a geographic location in the title, best songs written by a Canadian citizen while living in England, greatest top ten lists ever, you get the idea.

This is prime time for hanging with friends and family, so you really shouldn't be reading this. Turn off the computer, will ya? In case you are taking a few minutes out of your Christmas Eve to check things out @ torontomike.com, here are my forty favourite Christmas songs. Happy Christmas Eve, everyone.

1. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl
2. White Christmas - Bing Crosby
3. Linus and Lucy - Vince Guaraldi Trio
4. 2000 Miles - The Pretenders
5. Baby It's Cold Outside - Ray Charles with Betty Carter
6. Peace On Earth & Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie & Bing Crosby
7. O Tannenbaum - Vince Guaraldi Trio
8. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band With The Harlem Community Choir
9. Christmas Time Is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio
10. The First Noel - Crash Test Dummies
11. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Bruce Springsteen
12. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole
13. Do They Know It's Christmas - Band Aid
14. Christmas Don't Be Late - Alvin and the Chipmunks
15. Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies
16. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft
17. O Holy Night - John McDermott
18. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Coldplay
19. Christmas Night In Harlem - Louis Armstrong
20. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Dean Martin
21. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings - Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan
22. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Bing Crosby
23. Let Me Sleep - Pearl Jam
24. Christmas at the Zoo - The Flaming Lips
25. Green Christmas - Barenaked Ladies
26. Zat You Santa Claus? - Louis Armstrong
27. Merry Christmas, Baby - Otis Redding
28. Song For A Winter's Night - Sarah McLachlan
29. Mary Had A Baby - Bruce Cockburn
30. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2
31. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Vince Guaraldi Trio
32. Welcome Christmas - The Whos of Whoville
33. Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over - Jack White
34. Ave Maria - Sarah Brightman
35. That Was The Worst Christmas Ever! - Sufjan Stevens
36. We Three Kings - Reverend Horton Heat
37. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
38. Twelve Days of Christmas - Bob & Doug McKenzie
39. Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern) - Drunken Boat
40. Thank God It's Christmas - Queen

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I just scanned my collection for songs with "snow" in the title. Here are the best of the bunch.

Note the dominance of Canadian artists. This list is 50% CanCon. We write about what we know.

1. Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
2. What The Snowman Learned About Love - Stars
3. Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! - Dean Martin
4. Snowsuit Sound - Sloan
5. 20 Years of Snow - Regina Spektor
6. Snowed In - Joel Plaskett Emergency
7. Snowblind Friend - Steppenwolf
8. Snowmobile Song - Stompin' Tom Conners
9. By-Tor and the Snow Dog - Rush
10. Snowbird - Anne Murray
11. Footprints in the Snow - Mac Wiseman
12. On a Snowy Christmas Night - Elvis Presley
13. Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
14. Snowmen - Barenaked Ladies
15. Snow White Queen - Evanescence
16. Snowblind - Black Sabbath

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I discovered this Rolling Stone list after Fameone linked to it. It's the 50 best songs over 7 minutes long, and it's got me thinking...

What are my favourite songs over nine minutes in length? Here are my top ten.

• In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly (17:02)
• The End - The Doors (11:44)
• Xanadu - Rush (11:07)
• Cowgirl In The Sand - Neil Young (10:08)
• Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (10:08)
• All I Want Is You - U2 (9:52)
• Born Slippy - Underworld (9:45)
• Down By The River - Neil Young (9:20)
• Jesus Of Suburbia - Green Day (9:08)
• Tainted Love - Soft Cell (9:01)

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in November of 2007. What's with the surge in people looking for Ralph Wiggums' Valentine's Day card? Did they move Valentine's Day up this year?

1. wedding playlists
2. wedding playlist
3. barry bonds
4. bill barilko
5. big shiny tunes 2
6. tie domi
7. i choo choo choose you
8. big shiny tunes 4
9. jiri tlusty
10. big shiny tunes 3

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I watched Christopher Walken demand more cowbell in an SNL skit over on Humble's blog and it got me thinking about songs that feature a cowbell.

Here are my ten favourite songs with cowbell. I need more cowbell!

1. Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name
2. Guns N' Roses - Mr. Brownstone
3. Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies
4. AC~DC - You Shook Me (All Night Long)
5. Radiohead - Creep
6. Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister
7. Mountain - Mississippi Queen
8. War - Low Rider
9. Tone Loc - Funky Cold Medina
10. Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come

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We're all set for tomorrow's Santa Claus parade. As mentioned, this will be my fourth year in a row attending the world's largest Santa Claus parade, and I'll bring my camera to try and snap each float as it rolls by.

Here are my entries and photosets from the last three parades.

• 2006 Santa Claus Parade (recap, photoset)
• 2005 Santa Claus Parade (recap, photoset)
• 2004 Santa Claus Parade (recap, photoset)

Here are "parade" songs found in my collection.

• The Street Parade - The Clash
• The Soft Parade - The Doors
• Macy's Day Parade - Green Day
• Hit Parade of Love - Jimmy Martin
• Parade - Luscious Jackson
• Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine
• Soft Parade - The Watchmen

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According to some British survey, here are the top ten lines from a film most commonly used in everyday conversation.

1. "I'll be back." ("The Terminator")
2. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." ("Gone With The Wind")
3. "Beam me up, Scotty." ("Star Trek")
4. "May the force be with you." ("Star Wars")
5. "Life is like a box of chocolates." ("Forrest Gump")
6. "You talking to me?" ("Taxi Driver")
7. "Show me the money." ("Jerry Maguire")
8. "Do you feel lucky, punk?" ("Dirty Harry")
9. "Here's looking at you, kid." ("Casablanca")
10. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." ("Dirty Dancing")

Interestingly enough, "Beam me up, Scotty" and "Do you feel lucky, punk?" are mis-quotes.

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in October of 2007. Were there a lot of weddings in September? The hockey hits, I understand.

1. wedding playlists
2. wedding playlist
3. toronto maple leafs
4. bill barilko
5. top new rock songs of 2007
6. wedding song playlist
7. barry bonds
8. celebrity death watch
9. marge simpson nude
10. saint ralph soundtrack

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Cracked.com has published a list that's right up my alley. They call it The 10 Most Terrifyingly Inspirational '80s Songs and here it is.

1. "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
2. "You’re the Best" by Joe Esposito
3. "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins
4. "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner
5. "Don’t Stop Believing" by Journey
6. "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler
7. "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar
8. "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen
9. "Wanted (Dead or Alive)" by Bon Jovi
10. "The Final Countdown" by Europe

I think it's a very strong list. It's very hard to argue against that top three, in fact, check out this Friday Five I did back in 2005. It's pretty similar, only I actually put "You're the Best" ahead of "Eye of the Tiger", but that's just me.

Where the hell is Mark Safan's "Win in the End? Now, that was inspirational.

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There is nothing more Canadian than hockey. It's a little past noon on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I'm already thinking about Hockey Night in Canada tonight as my Leafs take on the Rangers. Hockey is life and pretty sweet.

Alison, who refers to herself as a stranger-friend because she drops by daily, wrote me to ask if I had ever posted a hockey playlist. She was looking for songs that would pump up a young hockey team in the dressing room, but my mind instantly turned to songs about our national game. I started thinking about hockey songs and decided to post the top ten hockey songs.

Here are the best ten hockey songs, in no particular order, and with apologies to Hayden because the amazing "Skates" isn't about hockey.

Hockey - Jane Siberry - Before she changed her name to Issa, Torontonian Jane Siberry was best known around these parts for "Mimi on the Beach", but my favourite Jane Siberry track is "Hockey" from her 1989 album Bound By the Beauty. Check out these pretty lyrics.

They rioted in the streets of Montreal when they benched Rocket Richard,
And that is true bona fide Canadian history, that's what really counts
That's what we're all about

Don't let those Sunday afternoons
Get away get away get away get away
Break away break away break away break away

You use your rubber boots for goal-posts
And you're so proud of that, cause they're your boots that they're usin'

Have a listen here and if you're not touched by the beauty you didn't grow up around here.

The Hockey Song - Stompin' Tom Connors - This song is simple, but has rightfully become a national anthem of sorts. Of all of Stompin' Tom's songs, this is the one we'll still be singing nightly in fifty years. I know you know the lyrics, but here's a taste anyway.

Where players dash with skates aflash the home team trails behind
But they grab the puck and go bursting up and they're down across the line
They storm the crease like bumble bees they travel like a burning flame
We see them slide the puck inside - it's a 1-1 hockey game!

I was lucky enough to see Connors perform "The Hockey Song" live when I saw Conan O'Brien back in 2004. Here's awesome footage of Connors doing it up with some great vintage footage of our game.

Hockey Night In Canada Theme - The Shuffle Demons - Speaking of unofficial Canadian national anthems, the opening theme for Hockey Night In Canada is right up there. It was written in 1968 by Dolores Claman and it only takes one note to prepare for puck droppage in Pavlov's dog-style. I threw The Shuffle Demons' cover on this list because it's chock full of bop rap goodness. Note to self: share "Spadina Bus" this weekend.

The Ballad of Wendel Clark, Parts I and II - Rheostatics - I recently wrote about this song as the video contains glimpses of the now defunct Old Mill Donuts on Dundas Street West. It's a great hockey song with a Toronto slant and mandatory listening for those of us who suffered through the 1980s Norris division follies. Check out the lyrics.

Well I heard Wendel talking to Dave Hodge last night
he said that he was confident and keen
he said that Jacques Plante didn't die
so all of us could glide
he said that hard work is the ethic of the free.

And here's that video I mentioned with classic Etobicokery.

50 Mission Cap - The Tragically Hip - The Hip's classic homage to my favourite legend, Bill Barilko, needs no introduction. It's everything that's great about this country rolled into one inspiring package. Here's the lyrics.

Bill Barilko disappeared that summer
He was on a fishing trip
The last goal he ever scored won the Leafs the cup
They didn't win another until 1962 the year he was discovered
I stole this from a hockey card I keep tucked up under
My fifty mission cap I worked it in to look like that

Here are the Hip playing "50 Mission Cap" back in '93 on The Another Roadside Attraction Tour.

Hockey Skates - Kathleen Edwards - This song isn't really about hockey, but it's called "Hockey Skates" and it's really good, so I'm throwing it on this list. I fell upon it while listening to the Men With Brooms soundtrack and it instantly captured my fancy. Here's a taste of the lyrics.

Going down in the same old town down the same street to the same bar
And the same old people saying hi and I don't care
Going down in the same old bar and I don't even order anymore
I am so sick of consequence and the look on your face
I am tired of playing defense
I don't even have hockey skates

While looking for Kathleen singing "Hockey Skates" I found another song of hers opening Hockey Night in Canada. This seems appropriate for this entry.

Gretzky Rocks - The Pursuit of Happiness - I remember the video for this song getting airplay on MuchMusic. It was well after Love Junk, and not TPOH at their best, but Gretzky does in fact rock and that needed to be said in song. Here's how it starts...

Walter Gretzky had a son,
he grew up to be the great one
He came from Brantford, Ontario;
he liked Gordie Howe you know.

Americans don't understand,
the national sport of the northland
The worlds best game they're always dissin'
but they don't know what they are missin'

Unfortunately, I can only see this video in my mind because there's no trace of it online. Moe Berg was in the penalty box for a while, I believe.

Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song) - Warren Zevon - 2002's My Ride's Here is the second last album of Warren Zevon's career and the cover shows him sitting in a hearse. For this album, he recorded "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)". Mitch Albom, a sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, helped write the tune while David Letterman chipped in by yelling "Hit Somebody!"

There were Swedes to the left of him
Russians to the right
A Czech at the blue line looking for a fight
Brains over brawn--that might work for you
But what's a Canadian farm boy to do?
What else can a farm boy from Canada do?
But what's a Canadian farm boy to do?
What else can a farm boy from Canada do?

Hit somebody! was what the crowd roared
When Buddy the goon came over the boards
"Coach," he'd say, "I wanna score goals"
The coach said, "Buddy, remember your role,
The fast guys get paid, they shoot, and they score
Protect them, Buddy, that's what you're here for.

The Zamboni Song - Gear Daddies - This song is probably best known from MasterCard commercials and from The Mighty Ducks soundtracks. It's pretty popular at arenas throughout this country and the kids dig it. It's safe to say this is the only Gear Daddies song you'll ever hear.

Now ever since I was young it's been my dream
That I might drive a Zamboni machine
I'd get the ice just as slick as could be
And all the kids would look up to me

Here's the song from this Austin, Minnesota band.

The Lonely End of the Rink - The Tragically Hip - I couldn't resist putting a second Tragically Hip song on this list. They litter hockey references all over the place and I could easily justify including "Fireworks" because of the references to The Summit Series and Bobby Orr. "The Lonely End of the Rink" is drenched in a romantic hockey sentiment we can all relate to. It's explained briliantly by Gord Downie in the clip below.

At the lonely end of the rink, you and me
At the lonely end of the rink, you and me
Oh to join the rush
As the season builds

I hear your voice 'cross a frozen lake
a voice from the end of a leaf
saying, 'you won't die of a thousand fakes
or be beaten by the sweetest of dekes'

This song opened the first Hockey Night in Canada telecast last year and it was perfect. Enjoy the unofficial video for another great hockey song.

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Earlier today, I wrote about my inherent disadvantage when compiling a list of this nature. Below are my ten favourite Canadian albums of all-time, but you won't find Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Rush or The Guess Who. You also won't find The Band, Leonard Cohen or Gordon Lightfoot. I kept this list to actual albums I enjoyed and banned all greatest hits collections.

I'm listing these here in no particular order. You may commence judging my ten favourite Canadian albums..... now. If you're interested, I also recently listed the top 100 Canadian songs of all-time, and that list has lots of Neil, Joni, Leonard and Gordon.

The Tragically Hip - Fully Completely

Favourite Tracks:
"At the Hundredth Meridian"
"Wheat Kings"
"Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)"

Sloan - Smeared

Favourite Tracks:
"Underwhelmed"
"Take It In"
"500 Up"

Barenaked Ladies - Gordon

Favourite Tracks:
"Brian Wilson"
"If I Had $1000000"
"Be My Yoko Ono"

The Pursuit of Happiness - Love Junk

Favourite Tracks:
"I'm an Adult Now"
"She's So Young"
"Hard to Laugh"

Hayden - Everything I Long For

Favourite Tracks:
"Bad As They Seem"
"In September"
"Tragedy"

The Lowest of the Low - Shakespeare My Butt

Favourite Tracks:
"Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes"
"Eternal Fatalist"
"Bleed a Little While Tonight"

Maestro Fresh-Wes - Symphony in Effect

Favourite Tracks:
"Let Your Backbone Slide"
"Drop the Needle"
"Tear it Up"

Rusty - Fluke

Favourite Tracks:
"Groovy Dead"
"Wake Me"
"Misogyny"

The Tragically Hip - Up to Here

Favourite Tracks:
"Blow at High Dough"
"New Orleans Is Sinking"
"38 Years Old"

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Favourite Tracks:
"Wake Up"
"Rebellion (Lies)"
"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"

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With apologies to Screamin' Jay Hawkins, I love this list of the top 10 rap songs white people love. It's a pretty strong collection of rap songs your average white person will get awfully excited about.

Here's their top ten:

1. Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
2. House of Pain - Jump Around
3. Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
4. Tag Team - Whoomp (There It Is)
5. Naughty By Nature - Hip Hop Hooray
6. Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock - It Takes Two
7. Young MC - Bust A Move
8. Biz Markie - Just A Friend
9. Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance
10. Positive K - I Got A Man

That's pretty sad, isn't it? My favourite of the bunch? You guessed it. Pack it up, pack it in... Let me begin.

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Perusing my music collection, I realize there's only a handful of bands and artists I really, really, really like. There are many I like, such as Coldplay, Broken Social Scene, Sam Roberts and Arctic Monkeys, but I don't really, really, really like them.

I really, really, really like the following:

• Alice in Chains
• Arcade Fire
• Audioslave
• Beastie Boys
• Beck
• Billy Talent
• Blue Rodeo
• Johnny Cash
• Alice Cooper
• The Cranberries
• Cypress Hill
• Death From Above 1979
• Eminem
• Foo Fighters
• Green Day
• Guns N' Roses
• Hayden
• Ice Cube
• Billy Idol
• Kid Rock
• Gordon Lightfoot
• Maestro Fresh-Wes
• Nirvana
• Oasis
• The Offspring
• Our Lady Peace
• Outkast
• Pearl Jam
• Public Enemy
• R.E.M.
• Radiohead
• Rage Against The Machine
• Sloan
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Soundgarden
• Bruce Springsteen
• Stone Temple Pilots
• The Strokes
• System of a Down
• The Tragically Hip
• Weezer
• The White Stripes
• Neil Young

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A web site called Cinema Blend ranked their top 5 grunge albums, and as a product of the grunge outbreak of the early 90s, I read with great interest.

I'm not going to analyze their rankings, which includes a rather surprising number one, I'd just like to state how much I love all five albums they listed. In fact, over a decade after grunge fizzled out, I constantly listen to all four of these discs and enjoy them as much today as I did back then.

Here's the Cinema Blend top five.

1. Stone Temple Pilots - Core
2. Alice In Chains - Unplugged
3. Pearl Jam - Ten
4. Nirvana - Nevermind
5. Foo Fighters - The Colour And The Shape

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in August of 2007. It's strange not seeing "wedding playlist" on this list. I guess the wedding planning goes into a slower gear in August. I just Googled it and I'm still #1.

The debut of "mike boon" and "toronto mike" on this list is indicative of how many visit sites these days. Instead of shooting over to youtube.com, they google youtube and click the first return. Apparently, many of you visit this site by Googling my name or Toronto Mike.

And finally, I'm glad to see "saint ralph soundtrack" make this list. I'm not sure why the volume of searches suddenly increased, but at least when they hit this site they'll get what they're looking for. That's not the case for those Simpsons Hit and Run map seekers.

1. top new rock songs of 2007
2. celebrity death watch
3. celebrity death pool
4. running music
5. simpsons hit and run map
6. saint ralph soundtrack
7. mike boon
8. toronto mike
9. teri polo death
10. 100 best wedding songs

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The Ongoing History of New Music is discussing bands that were around in the 70s and continue to make music to this day. That got me thinking about my favourite bands that were making music twenty years ago and are still making new music today.

To qualify for this list, the band must have released material in 1987 or earlier and must be still recording new music today. Here's my top ten.

1. The Tragically Hip
2. Public Enemy
3. R.E.M.
4. Beastie Boys
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers
6. U2
7. Blue Rodeo
8. The Flaming Lips
9. 54-40
10. The Cure

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in July of 2007. Those people searching for The Simpsons Hit and Run map were awfully disappointed when they clicked through to me.

1. wedding playlist
2. top new rock songs of 2007
3. simpsons hit and run map
4. celebrity death watch
5. bill barilko
6. rap traxx
7. avril peaches
8. sexy marge simpson
9. big shiny tunes 2
10. x games soundtrack

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Poison was a guilty pleasure from the 80s. They were more than just "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", they were "Talk Dirty To Me", "Fallen Angel" and "Something To Believe In". But this isn't about Poison, this is about "poison" songs, or songs with "poison" in the title.

Here are the poisonous songs in my collection.

• Poison - Alice Cooper
• Poison My Eyes - Anthrax
• The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden - Concrete Blonde
• Church of the Poison Mind - Culture Club
• Poison Arrow - ABC
• Poison - Prodigy
• Penny is Poison - Verve Pipe
• Poison Ivy - Von Bondies
• Poison Ivy - Willie Mabon
• Poison - Bell Biv DeVoe

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TimesOnline have put together a list of the fifty best robots on film. They judge plausibility, coolness, dangerousness and comedy value. Here are their top 10.

1. Terminator Series 800/Model 101 from The Terminator
2. HAL9000 from 2001, A Space Odyssey
3. Kitt from Knight Rider
4. SID 6.7 from Virtuosity
5. ED 209 from Robocop
6. Swarms of robot spiders from Lost In Space
7. ABC Warriors from Judge Dredd
8. Evil Bill & Ted from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
9. Sonny from I-Robot
10. The Sentinels from X-Men 3

I cannot believe R2-D2 didn't crack the top ten. That's insane, the little dude was a total hero.

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There are eight songs in my collection with the word "heartache" in the title. Here's the counter punch for the heart songs I listed a couple of years back.

• Good Morning Heartache - Billy Holiday
• Tonight The Heartache's On Me - Dixie Chicks
• That's When Your Heartache Begins - Elvis Presley
• Nothing But Heartache In Your Social Life - Gord Downie
• Heartaches By The Number - Guy Mitchell
• Heartaches & Troubles - Jimmy Reed
• Good Morning Heartache - Ol' Dirty Bastard
• Can't Stand The Heartache - Skid Row

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There are 1623 complete albums in my collection. That's a lot of music. Imagine if you had to start your collection from scratch but you were capped at twenty discs. Which twenty albums would make the cut?

It's a ridiculous question, because in reality there is no 20 CD maximum, but it's a question that really gets you questioning the value of each album in your collection. If I had to prune my collection to 20, here are the discs I'd own.

1. Alice In Chains - Dirt
2. Arcade Fire - Funeral
3. Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
4. Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
5. Green Day - Dookie
6. Guns N' Roses - Greatest Hits
7. The Lowest of the Low - Shakespeare My Butt
8. Nirvana - Nirvana
9. Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror (Down Side)
10. Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror (Up Side)
11. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
12. Radiohead - OK Computer
13. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
14. Soundgarden - A-Sides
15. System of a Down - Toxicity
16. The Tragically Hip - Yer Favourites (Disc 1)
17. The Tragically Hip - Yer Favourites (Disc 2)
18. Weezer - Blue Album
19. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
20. Neil Young - Greatest Hits

That wasn't easy. At the last second I bailed on my Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden selections and went with their greatest hits packages. I figure the mix on Nirvana beats the collective that is Nevermind. I did, however, stick with Alice in Chains' Dirt instead of going with their greatest hits compilation. Tough decisions were made, now it's your turn.

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Because my Friday Five today totally sucked ass, here's a bonus round. Here's some music for the holidays, otherwise known as my five favourite songs with "vacation" in the title.

1. A Million Vacations - Max Webster
2. Vacation - The Go-Gos
3. Permanent Vacation - Aerosmith
4. My Summer Vacation - Ice Cube
5. Mideast Vacation - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in June of 2007. If you're wondering why I get so many people looking for wedding playlists, Google it! The people here looking for the top new rock songs of 2007 are using Yahoo!.

1. wedding playlist
2. wedding playlists
3. top new rock songs of 2007
4. big shiny tunes 2
5. edgefest 2007 lineup
6. stanley cup
7. clock
8. celebrity death watch
9. bill barilko
10. running music

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It's been quite the journey. We kicked off our quest to assemble the greatest Canadian songs in the history of the world back on May 15 and here we are, a month and a half later.

It's unlikely everyone will agree with all 100 choices, many great songs were left on the cutting room floor. This wasn't easy, but I tried to remain objective and take all suggestions to heart. As always, I'd love to read your comments, so don't be shy. Without further ado, here are the top 100 Canadian songs listed in order.

And happy Canada Day, eh?

1. The Tragically Hip - New Orleans Is Sinking
2. Neil Young - Helpless
3. The Band - The Weight
4. Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
5. Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
6. Stan Rogers - Northwest Passage
7. Sloan - Underwhelmed
8. The Guess Who - American Woman
9. Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
10. Neil Young - Heart of Gold
11. Blue Rodeo - Try
12. Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
13. The Tragically Hip - Courage
14. Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson
15. Cowboy Junkies - Misguided Angel
16. Arcade Fire - Wake Up
17. Gordon Lightfoot - Early Morning Rain
18. Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World
19. Rush - The Spirit of Radio
20. The Guess Who - Share the Land
21. Blue Rodeo - Lost Together
22. Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
23. Our Lady Peace - Naveed
24. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
25. Blue Rodeo - Diamond Mine
26. Bruce Cockburn - Lovers in a Dangerous Time
27. Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind
28. Five Man Electical Band - Signs
29. Bachman Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care Of Business
30. Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown
31. The Guess Who - These Eyes
32. Blood, Sweat and Tears - Spinning Wheel
33. Hayden - Bad As They Seem
34. Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl
35. Ian and Sylvia - Four Strong Winds
36. Joni Mitchell - Woodstock
37. Rush - Closer to the Heart
38. Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now
39. Our Lady Peace - 4am
40. Maestro Fresh-Wes - Let Your Backbone Slide
41. k.d. lang - Constant Craving
42. The Tragically Hip - Bobcaygeon
43. Neil Young - Old Man
44. Dream Warriors - My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style
45. Sarah Harmer - Silver Road
46. Jeff Healey - Angel Eyes
47. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
48. I Mother Earth - So Gently We Go
49. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy
50. Joni Mitchell - The Circle Game
51. The Pursuit of Happiness - I'm An Adult Now
52. The Lowest of the Low - Henry Needs A New Pair of Shoes
53. Ashley MacIsaac - Sleepy Maggie
54. Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down the Crazy River
55. Tom Cochrane - Big League
56. Rush - Tom Sawyer
57. Moist - Push
58. Billy Talent - Nothing To Lose
59. Rusty - Wake Me
60. The Northern Pikes - Teenland
61. Sarah Harmer - Basement Apartment
62. Sarah McLachlan - Hold On
63. The Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings
64. Sloan - Coax Me
65. Spirit of the West - Home For A Rest
66. Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
67. Crash Test Dummies - Superman's Song
68. Stars - Ageless Beauty
69. The Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century
70. The Demics - New York City
71. Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1,000,000
72. 54-40 - I Go Blind
73. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
74. The New Pornographers - Use It
75. The Watchmen - All Uncovered
76. Treble Charger - Red
77. Sam Roberts - Brother Down
78. Randy Bachman - Prairie Town
79. Sarah McLachlan - Angel
80. Tom Cochrane - Boy Inside The Man
81. Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
82. Skydiggers - I Will Give You Everything
83. Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
84. Rough Trade - High School Confidential
85. Hot Hot Heat - Bandages
86. Corey Hart - Sunglasses at Night
87. Loverboy - Working For The Weekend
88. Metric - Combat Baby
89. Rusty - Misogyny
90. k-os - Heaven Only Knows
91. Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment
92. Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
93. Rheostatics - Record Body Count
94. Odds - Heterosexual Man
95. The Gandharvas - The First Day of Spring
96. The Diodes - Tired of Waking Up Tired
97. Feist - Mushaboom
98. Gowan - A Criminal Mind
99. Grapes Of Wrath - All The Things I Wasn't
100. Max Webster - A Million Vacations

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Have you noticed that all homeowners want to talk about these days is their garden? People are working on their garden, weeding their garden, watering their garden, it's all about their garden. Whenever someone asks me about my garden I break into Stone Temple Pilots' "Wicked Garden".

"Wicked Garden" is a cool tune, but I find "garden" songs are pound for pound amongst the best in the biz. Here's a sampling of garden songs from my collection.

• Octopus's Garden - The Beatles
• Secret Garden - Bruce Springsteen
• The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden - Concrete Blonde
• In The Garden - Elvis Presley
• The Garden - Guns N' Roses
• Garden of Eden - Guns N' Roses
• I Build This Garden For Us - Lenny Kravitz
• Water Your Garden - Luscious Jackson
• Safe In My Garden - The Mama's and the Papa's
• Gates to the Garden - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
• Garden - Pearl Jam
• Garden of Serenity - Ramones
• Wicked Garden - Stone Temple Pilots
• Garden Grove - Sublime

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in May of 2007. The first search string more than doubled the second. It's also nice to see I'm getting more visits from stoners.

1. wedding playlist
2. toronto maple leafs
3. big shiny tunes 2
4. wedding playlists
5. big shiny tunes 3
6. stanley cup
7. big shiny tunes 7
8. cereal boxes
9. marijuana leafs
10. running music

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I've pruned the original running playlist down to 20 songs. The prerequisite was having the word "run" or "running" in the title.

I'll burn these 20 to an audio CD for the carpool on Saturday.

1. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
2. On The Run - Sam Roberts
3. Born To Run - k-os
4. Running Down a Dream - Tom Petty
5. Run To You - Bryan Adams
6. Run - Collective Soul
7. Run Runaway - Great Big Sea
8. Runnin' Back to Saskatoon - The Guess Who
9. No Distance Left To Run - Blur
10. Runaway - Linkin Park
11. Run Through The Jungle - Creedance Clearwater Revival
12. Always On The Run - Lenny Kravitz
13. Run - Snow Patrol
14. Long May You Run - Neil Young
15. Take the Money and Run - Steve Miller Band
16. Time Running - Tegan and Sara
17. Long Time Running - The Tragically Hip
18. Runnin' With The Devil - Van Halen
19. Run and Hide - The Watchmen
20. Run To The Hills - Iron Maiden

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in April of 2007. It's nice to know "leafs suck" is number three. At least FUVC made the cut.

1. toronto maple leafs
2. wedding playlist
3. leafs suck
4. big shiny tunes 2
5. fuvc
6. big shiny tunes 7
7. stanley cup
8. 2007 nhl playoff pool
9. wedding playlists
10. bill barilko

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It could all end tonight. What the Raptors need now is a miracle.

Here are songs in my collection with "miracle" in the title.

• No Miracle, No Dazzle - Blue Rodeo
• The Miracle of Music - Bob & Doug McKenzie
• Waiting For A Miracle - Bruce Cockburn
• It's A Miracle - Culture Club
• Miracle of Love - Eurythmics
• Miracle - Foo Fighters
• Miracle Man - Ozzy Osbourne
• I Believe In Miracles - Ramones
• The Miracle - Queen
• Miracle Drug - U2
• It's A Miracle - Barry Manilow

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I sense it's time. If not this afternoon, tomorrow... or Monday at the latest.

These ten hair songs from my collection will prepare me for the event.

• Devils Haircut - Beck
• Get a Haircut - George Thorogood & the Destroyers
• Hairspray Queen - Nirvana
• Hair of the Dog - Nazareth
• Hair - The Cowsills
• Long Brown Hair - Regina Spektor
• Good Hair - OutKast
• Black Hair - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
• I Cut Off My Hair - Regina Spektor
• Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair - Nina Simone

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There are some good songs with "James" in the title, and there are some good songs with "Michelle" in the title. What are my ten favourite songs with either "James" or "Michelle" in the title?

1. Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
2. My Michelle - Guns N' Roses
3. Jimmy James - Beastie Boys
4. Michelle - The Beatles
5. Reuben James - Kenny Rogers
6. St. James Infirmary Blues - The White Stripes
7. James Brown Is Dead - LA Style
8. Meet James Ensor - They Might Be Giants
9. Sinking of the Reuben James - Woody Guthrie
10. Michelle's Farm - Beastie Boys

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Here are the top grossing films based on comic books:

1. Spider-Man - $403,706,375
2. Spider-Man 2 - $373,585,825
3. Batman - $251,188,924
4. X-Men: The Last Stand - $234,362,462
5. X2: X-Men United - $214,949,694
6. Batman Begins - $205,343,774
7. Superman Returns - $200,081,192
8. Batman Forever - $184,031,112
9. Batman Returns - $162,831,698
10. X-Men - $157,299,717
11. Fantastic Four - $154,696,080

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These are the top searches that referred people to this site in March of 2007. One of the first signs of spring is the arrival of Blue Jays fans.

1. richard jeni
2. wedding playlist
3. big shiny tunes 2
4. toronto maple leafs
5. concert tickets
6. toronto blue jays
7. big shiny tunes 3
8. big shiny tunes 4
9. big shiny tunes 6
10. big shiny tunes 7

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Watching "Blood Diamond" got me thinking about musical diamonds. Not Neil Diamond songs or Diamond Dave songs, but songs with Diamond in the title. And not "Black Diamond" by Kiss, "Diamonds on the Inside" by Ben Harper or "Diamonds Are Forever" by Shirley Bassey, but diamond songs that are in my collection.

Here they are:

• Headlights Look Like Diamonds - Arcade Fire
• Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - The Beatles
• Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - The Black Crowes
• Jack O' Diamonds Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
• Diamond Mine - Blue Rodeo
• Diamond Smiles - Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats
• Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
• Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - Elton John
• This Diamond Ring - Gary Lewis and the Playboys
• Diamonds Is Forever - Jay-Z
• Diamonds From Sierra Leone (remix) - Kanye West featuring Jay-Z
• Diamonds From Sierra Leone - Kanye West
• Ocean of Diamonds - Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time
• Diamonds in the Mine - Leonard Cohen
• Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes - Paul Simon
• Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-5 - Pink Floyd
• Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6-9 - Pink Floyd
• The 'Ol Diamondback Sturgeon - Primus
• Diamonds and Pearls - Prince and the New Power Generation
• Diamond Girl - Seals & Croft
• Diamonds and Guns - Transplants

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As previously mentioned, CFNY Edge 102 counted down the top 102 Canadian new rock songs of all time today. They just aired Underwhelmed seconds ago, so you're getting this awfully quick. I threw this together while watching the Leafs game and filled in the cracks with a little help from my friends.

1. Sloan, Underwhelmed - One of my ten Canadian tracks, and it's a word!
2. The Tragically Hip, New Orleans is Sinking - No brainer. You could see this coming a hundred miles away. It's another of my ten Canadian tracks, to top it off. Only one song could beat this one...
3. The Demics, New York City - If they were going to celebrate a Canadian punk song from the late 70s, this is the one to celebrate because it's the best of the bunch. They were local, too.
4. Arcade Fire, Rebellion (Lies) - Props to CFNY for putting Arcade Fire in the top ten, even if it's the wrong Arcade Fire song.
5. Nickelback, How You Remind Me - I call bullshit.
6. The Pursuit of Happiness, I'm An Adult Now - Now we're talking! I recently shared the video for this song. This is a band I have fond memories of and I included this song as one of my ten Canadian tracks.
7. Billy Talent, River Below - The Billy Talent love-in continues...
8. Spirit Of The West, Home For A Rest - I don't think you're allowed to listen to this song once you've graduated from university.
9. Martha & The Muffins, Echo Beach - You knew this was coming. It had to be there, 'nuff said.
10. AlexisOnFire, This Could Be Anywhere In The World - The ranking of this tune has clearly been inflated based on the fact it's a recent hit. T