Favorite 31 Songs by US Artists According to a Bunch of Middle-Aged Dummies (2 Viewers)

[krista4]

Spreadsheet of all picks

"Last Five Out" Playlist

Post with 1-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #31

Post with 2-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #30

Post with 3-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #29

Post with 4-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #28

Post with 5-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #27

Post with 6-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #26

Post with 7-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #25

Post with 8-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #24

Post with 9-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #23

Post with 10-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #22

Post with 11-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #21

Post with 12-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #20

Post with 13-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #19

Post with 14-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #18

Post with 15-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #17

Post with 16-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #16

Post with 17-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #15

Post with 18-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #14

Post with 19-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #13

Post with 20-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #12

Post with 21-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #11

Post with 22-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #10

Post with 23-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #9

Post with 24-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #8

Post with 25-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #7

Post with 26-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #6

Post with 27-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #5

Post with 28-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #4

Post with 29-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #3

Post with 30-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #2

Post with 31-Point Selections
Playlist: FBGs Top 31 by dummies - #1

 

[krista4]

Jumping off @Dr. Octopus's excellent thread here, some of us thought it would be fun to do a similar exercise for the FFA. Like Dr. O and his buddies, we’ll have very few rules.

Anyone who wishes to participate should put together a list of his/her favorite songs of all time, but only from US-born artists. As Dr. O explained, this will also eliminate any “mixed” bands like The Band or The Talking Heads. Only true-blue ‘muricans, goldarn it.

There is no limit on the number of songs you can submit from the same artist. If you want 31 Stevie Wonder songs, go for it, and God bless your impeccable taste. But you must submit 31 songs, no more and no fewer. I’m setting the deadline for submission of lists to me at November 13. On November 14, I’ll begin by revealing everyone’s #31, with a reveal every day until we hit all of our #1s on December 14.

Just to give people plenty of time to prepare lists, I’m posting this with permission of Dr. O while his thread is still active, but for now please just post below if you intend to submit a list. In the meantime, join the fun over at Dr. O’s thread. Also, if you have IRL friends who'd like to participate, I'm happy to take their lists.

Running blacklist of (possibly surprisingly) ineligible artists mentioned in the thread:

Spoiler: List

Entire discography ineligible:

Spoiler: List

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
4 Non Blondes
10,000 Maniacs
The Apples in Stereo
Big Thief
The Breeders
Clem Snide
CSN/CSNY
The Dave Matthews Band
Death Cab for Cutie
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Foreigner
Doug E. Fresh
Fugees
Garbage
Geto Boys
Kiss
Lake Street Dive
LCD Soundsystem
Living Colour
Los Lobos
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Mamas and the Papas
Mandrill
Metallica
Ministry
The Monkees
No Doubt
The Pixies
Porno for Pyros
Quiet Riot
The Rascals
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Slick Rick
The Smithereens
Sniff 'n' the Tears
Dusty Springfield
The Strokes
Talking Heads
‘Til Tuesday
Tom Tom Club
Van Halen
War
The Waterboys
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Young the Giant

Partial discography ineligible – releases that include any of the individuals in parentheses or as otherwise indicated are ineligible:

Against Me! (Inge Johannson)
The Avett Brothers (Joe Kwon)
The Beach Boys (Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin)
The Black Crowes (Eddie Harsch, Sven Pipien)
Blondie (Nigel Harrison)
Concrete Blonde (Paul Thompson)
Bob Dylan (albums credited to Bob Dylan and The Band)
Guns N' Roses (Slash)
Heatwave (Rod Temperton)
Hole (Melissa Auf der Maur)
Jefferson Starship (Pete Sears, Anysley Dunbar)
Jerry Garcia Band (Nicky Hopkins)
Jimi Hendrix (Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell on Jimi Hendrix Experience recordings)
Journey (Aynsley Dunbar)
Love (Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer )
Megadeth (Nick Menza)
Modest Mouse (Johnny Marr)
Mötley Crüe (Tommy Lee)
Mountain (Corky Laing)
New York Dolls (Sylvain Sylvain)
Nine Inch Nails (Atticus Ross, 2016 recordings and beyond)
Poi Dog Pondering (Steve Goulding)
The Pretenders (all albums other than Alone and Packed! ineligible)
Queensrÿche (Geoff Tate)
Ramones (Tommy Ramone)
Ratt (Juan Croucier)
Anything Rihanna guests on, sorry
The Shins (Dave Hernandez)
Patti Smith (Ivan Kral on Patti Smith Group recordings)
Three Dog Night (Danny Hutton)
Tool (Justin Chancellor)
The Velvet Underground (John Cale, Nico)
Frank Zappa (Anysley Dunbar on Mothers of Invention recordings)

Participants and their selections:

krista4
Dr. Octopus
Uruk-Hai
Just Win Baby
shuke
rockaction
Pip's Invitation
higgins
The Dreaded Marco
MAC_32
DrIanMalcolm
HellToupee
Manster
Mrs. Rannous
Val Rannous
AAABatteries
Don Quixote
Northern Voice
Doug B
landrys hat
Hawks64
jwb
falguy
Oliver Humanzee
simey
Eephus
Hov34
neal cassady
scorchy
Sullie
zamboni
Yankee23Fan
simsarge
Bluesbomber
ditkaburgers
Chaz McNulty
Ilov80s
New Binky the Doormat
Zegras11
worrierking
KarmaPolice

 

[rockaction]

IN!

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

Yes. In.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I will of course submit my list. I will even ask a few IRL friends if they want to do so, but I doubt they'll have the energy to do so. We are middle-aged-to-old, after all.

 

[MAC_32]

This sounds like fun

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Also, if you have IRL friends who'd like to participate, I'm happy to take their lists.

One of my IRL friends is in. I figured he'd go for it because he's always posting music and movie lists to Facebook.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

I could barely cut the Beatles down to 25 and now I'm supposed to cut down all 'Murikin songs, ever, to 31? No way. I'd end up in a padded room wearing a white long-sleeved shirt that ties in the back.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I could barely cut the Beatles down to 25 and now I'm supposed to cut down all 'Murikin songs, ever, to 31? No way. I'd end up in a padded room wearing a white long-sleeved shirt that ties in the back.

You could follow Uruk's method and eliminate all Billy Joel songs right off the bat. That would narrow things down a little.

 

[:deadbevo:]

sounds like an infuriatingly fun exercise.

unfortunately my fickle taste swings by the hour.

I might go to work with strictly 90s hip hop, and by the end of the day be down a Luke Combs rabbit hole.

 

[krista4]

I could barely cut the Beatles down to 25 and now I'm supposed to cut down all 'Murikin songs, ever, to 31? No way. I'd end up in a padded room wearing a white long-sleeved shirt that ties in the back.

You could follow Uruk's method and eliminate all Billy Joel songs right off the bat. That would narrow things down a little.

And Jackson Browne!

 

[HellToupee]

In

 

[Tau837]

I was inspired to create a list by the other countdown thread. I chose to limit mine to one song per artist, even though that isn't required. I thought that made it more interesting. Otherwise, I probably would have had about 7 total artists represented...

 

[Manster]

In!

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

I'm in. Mr R is also in.

No Queen. No Rush. Whatever shall we do?

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

We both picked "Lowrider", but the harmonica player is Danish. Stupid harmonica.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

In

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Do instrumentals count?

 

[krista4]

Do instrumentals count?

Sure, don’t see why not.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Do instrumentals count?

At least you don't have deal with a Canadian singer.

 

[AAABatteries]

In

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Will you be making a composite list (like the Beatles countdown) or revealing each list individually (like I did, but with only five lists)?

 

[Mister CIA]

I could barely cut the Beatles down to 25 and now I'm supposed to cut down all 'Murikin songs, ever, to 31? No way. I'd end up in a padded room wearing a white long-sleeved shirt that ties in the back.

You could follow Uruk's method and eliminate all Billy Joel songs right off the bat. That would narrow things down a little.

And Jackson Browne!

There ain't no difference between the two.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I hope no one was planning on any songs from Gene Simmons, he was born in Israel.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I hope no one was planning on any songs from Gene Simmons, he was born in Israel.

Ooops.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'm in. Mr R is also in.

No Queen. No Rush. Whatever shall we do?

Plenty of Neil Diamond available.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Do instrumentals count?

Sure, don’t see why not.

I’m probably going to have one on my list. People who have paid very close attention to my posts over the last 2+ years can deduce what it is. Which means, no one will.

 

[Don Quixote]

I’ll submit one.

 

[krista4]

Will you be making a composite list (like the Beatles countdown) or revealing each list individually (like I did, but with only five lists)?

The latter, like you did.

But now that you mention it, I’ll do both as well, to calculate the FFA’s favorite song of all time from a U.S. artist!!!

 

[Northern Voice]

In even though I'm not American.

 

[Doug B]

I can cobble together a list by Nov 13th

 

[landrys hat]

I can do a list. Although, it will probably just be all of the same songs as yours and Uruk's.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I can do a list. Although, it will probably just be all of the same songs as yours and Uruk's.

I'll just send you mine and save you some work.

 

[Hawks64]

In...should be an interesting exercise as my favorite band is not eligible....and is pretty much all I listen to

 

[Doug B]

We both picked "Lowrider", but the harmonica player is Danish. Stupid harmonica.

Leroy Hoard:

I hope no one was planning on any songs from Gene Simmons, he was born in Israel.

War and Kiss are bands, so that's one thing. Are we going to have to root out foreign-born session players and things like that?

 

[Hawks64]

We both picked "Lowrider", but the harmonica player is Danish. Stupid harmonica.

Leroy Hoard:

I hope no one was planning on any songs from Gene Simmons, he was born in Israel.

War and Kiss are bands, so that's one thing. Are we going to have to root out foreign-born session players and things like that?

That would be significantly harder, especially with singer/songwriters that have had changes in their recording bands.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Will you be making a composite list (like the Beatles countdown) or revealing each list individually (like I did, but with only five lists)?

The latter, like you did.

But now that you mention it, I’ll do both as well, to calculate the FFA’s favorite song of all time from a U.S. artist!!!

Spoiler: it’s Billy Don’t Be a Hero.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Will you be making a composite list (like the Beatles countdown) or revealing each list individually (like I did, but with only five lists)?

The latter, like you did.

But now that you mention it, I’ll do both as well, to calculate the FFA’s favorite song of all time from a U.S. artist!!!

I’m very interested to see what you pick with no Beatles or Leonard Cohen available.

 

[jwb]

I'd like in on this.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Will you be making a composite list (like the Beatles countdown) or revealing each list individually (like I did, but with only five lists)?

The latter, like you did.

But now that you mention it, I’ll do both as well, to calculate the FFA’s favorite song of all time from a U.S. artist!!!

I’m very interested to see what you pick with no Beatles or Leonard Cohen available.

I know 3 artists that I'd be shocked if there wasn't at least one from.

 

[falguy]

I'm in.

Should be pretty easy

 

[krista4]

War and Kiss are bands, so that's one thing. Are we going to have to root out foreign-born session players and things like that?

No, that's too much. Just core members of the band as it exists on the recording. If, for instance, a band brought in a Bermudian triangle specialist for a song, that's OK.

More housekeeping:

1. Spotify lists of your picks are welcomed and encouraged, and if you do one, I'll add it to my first post (after all the big reveals are done). That said, if one of your favorites is a particular version - I'm thinking primarily of live versions - that isn't on there, that's fine. If it's on YouTube or anywhere else you can link so that we can hear it, that's fine.

2. I'm adopting Dr. O's statement in the other thread that the general rule of thumb for eligibility should be "setting aside age requirements, would this person be eligible to run for President of the US?".

Specific bands:

Unlike in Dr. O's group, KISS will not be eligible here since Gene Simmons doesn't qualify under #2 above. The other members' individual works would be.

Also in contrast to Dr. O's lists, the Jimi Hendrix Experience will not be eligible as two of the three band members do not qualify. However, you could take any recording of Jimi solo or with other backing members who do qualify, such as Band of Gypsys.

I'll try to look through everyone's lists to catch any ineligible before we start posting so that you can replace if necessary, but I might not have time or I might miss something (I didn't think about Gene Simmons, for instance).

 

[Eephus]

No Rush. Whatever shall we do?

Celebrate our good fortune

 

[krista4]

Oliver Humanzee is joining, under duress.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

2. I'm adopting Dr. O's statement in the other thread that the general rule of thumb for eligibility should be "setting aside age requirements, would this person be eligible to run for President of the US?"

What about criminal convictions?

 

[Hawks64]

Man the US-born requirement is killing some bands I thought would be included.

 

[krista4]

2. I'm adopting Dr. O's statement in the other thread that the general rule of thumb for eligibility should be "setting aside age requirements, would this person be eligible to run for President of the US?"

What about criminal convictions?

I actually thought about this when typing that, but then remembered from the PSF that the analysis indicates that this does not preclude running for President.

 

[krista4]

Man the US-born requirement is killing some bands I thought would be included.

Think of it as a good way to make list-making easier.

 

[krista4]

That said, if the group thinks we should include KISS, I'm open to that. Gene Simmons moved here and became an American citizen when he was very young. The Jimi Hendrix Experience is distinguished from that in my mind since Redding and MItchell were as British as a cup of tea.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Man the US-born requirement is killing some bands I thought would be included.

Yes I was surprised by a few bands - and I guess we missed KISS, although ultimately I’m fine with them being considered an American band.