My Favorite Artists Using The Martin C. Strong Method of 30 Artists & 20 Bonus Tracks

By JohnBckWLD
updated over 2 years ago

What:
My 30 band / 200 track selections following the rules set forth in The Great Rock Discography Survey: The Great Rock Discography Survey: Martin C Strong's Best Artists And Songs In 1995

Background:
After more aborted attempts then I'll admit, I've kept my promise to myself and took Discographer Martin C Strong's challenge

Guidelines:
This list is simple to understand & painful to compile. List your 200 all-time favorite tracks using the following framework:
► 10 Songs from Fave Artists #1-10
► 5 Songs on Artists #11-20
► 3 Songs on Artists #21-30
► 20 Bonus Tracks

Asides:
I have a valid excuse for why it took so long to publish my selections: I hated the task & would've probably preferred chewing tin foil & live maggots while driving a rusty railroad spike thru my nether regions. I'm fickle & polyamorous by nature (with the divorce papers to prove it) so compiling 30 favorite artists & 200 top tracks without a gun held to my head was pure masochism. No matter what form the previous attempts took, they always resulted in far too many culled favorites. Kevvy's tip to 'Approach it as a photographer...Select (as opposed to limiting) them', helped - but the resulting image always ended up looking something like this.

Methodology:
Though there are no hard and fast rules, I opted to include some of my favorite classical pieces. Because I had such a difficult time picking 30 artists, for each of the 3 tiers, I opted to use 5 decimalized time periods & picked 2 artists for each period:
► '55-65: Rock & Roll Era
► '65-75: Rock Era
► '75-85: Punk/New Wave Era
► '85-95: Alternative Era
► '95-Present: Indie Era

Iceberg Dead Ahead!
I don't like the end result. Way too many safe bets on a snapshot that's changed 10x already.

1 – 25 of 50

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1

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

#1) Sleeping Village
#2) Behind The Wall Of Sleep
#3) Hand Of Doom
#4) Warning
#5) Megalomania
#6) The Writ
#7) Wheels Of Confusion - The Straightener
#8) St. Vitus Dance
#9) Sweet Leaf
10) Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
2

Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult

#1) Cities On Flame With Rock & Roll
#2) Dominance And Submission
#3) Death Valley Nights
#4) Godzilla
#5) Vengeance (The Pact)
#6) The Revenge Of Vera Gemini (Featuring Patti Smith)
#7) Deadline
#8) Black Blade
#9) Lips In The Hills
10) Astronomy
3

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

#1) The Boy With The Arab Strap
#2) If You're Feeling Sinister
#3) Step Into My Office, Baby
#4) Legal Man
#5) White Collar Boy
#6) Dear Catastrophe Waitress
#7) The Fox In The Snow
#8) Your Cover's Blown
#9) I'm A Cuckoo
10) Judy Is A Dick Slap (Instrumental B-Side)
4

Nirvana

Nirvana

#1) Aneurysm
#2) Rape Me
#3) Heart Shaped Box
#4) In Bloom
#5) Lithium
#6) The Man Who Sold the World (Live Unplugged)
#7) Come As You Are
#8) Smells Like Teen Spirit
#9) Dumb
10) Dive
5

The Smiths

The Smiths

#1) Bigmouth Strikes Again
#2) Panic
#3) This Charming Man
#4) Ask
#5) How Soon Is Now
#6) There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
#7) Shoplifters Of The World Unite
#8) William It Was Really Nothing
#9) Hand In Glove
10) Girlfriend In A Coma
6

John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker

#1) One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
#2) Seven Thirteen Blues / Seven Fourteen Blues Medley
#3) Boom Boom
#4) Boogie Chillen
#5) The Motor City Is Burning
#6) Homework
#7) Gloria (Collaboration With Van Morrison On Too Long in Exile)
#8) Make It Funky
#9) Boom Boom Boom (Urban Blues Sessions)
10) One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (Free Beer & Chicken Sessions)
7

The White Stripes

The White Stripes

#1) Seven Nation Army
#2) The Hardest Button To Button
#3) Hypnotize
#4) Blue Orchid
#5) My Doorbell
#6) Icky Thump
#7) I Think I Smell A Rat
#8) Take, Take Take
#9) Jimmy The Exploder
10) Hello Operator
8

Talking Heads

Talking Heads

#1) Crosseyed And Painless
#2) Cities
#3) Swamp
#4) Love For Sale
#5) Psycho Killer
#6) Life During Wartime
#7) Once In A Lifetime
#8) Take Me To The River
#9) Blind
10) Burning Down The House
9

Steinski

Steinski

#1) Steinski & Mass Media - It's Up To You (Television Mix)
#2) Steinski & Mass Media - The Motorcade Sped On
#3) Double Dee & Steinski - Lesson 2: The James Brown Mix
#4) Steinski - Swingset (10 Beautiful Girls Mix)
#5) Double Dee & Steinski - Lesson 1: The Pay Off Mix
#6) Double Dee & Steinski - Lesson 3: The History Of Hip Hop
#7) Steinski - It's A Funky Thing Part 1 (Special Feature)
#8) Steinski - It's Time To Testify (MC5 Mix)
#9) Double Dee & Steinski - The Sugar Hill Suite
10) Roots Manuva - Witness (Walworth Road Rockers Dub / Steinski Rework)
10

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra

#1) Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony N° 9 - In D Minor
#2) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony N° 6 - Pathétique
#3) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem - K626 In D Minor
#4) Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique - Opus 14
#5) Gustav Holst: The Planets
#6) Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
#7) Gustav Mahler: Symphony N° 5 - In C Sharp Minor
#8) Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony N° 5 - In C Minor
#9) Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra
10) George Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue
11

2 Many DJ's

2 Many DJ's

#1) Destiny's Child vs. Nirvana - Smells Like Booty

#2) New Order vs. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head

#3) Emerson, Lake & Palmer vs. Basement Jaxx - Peter Gunn vs Where's Your Head At

#4) Salt 'N' Pepa vs. The Stooges - No Fun vs. Push It

#5) Human Resource vs. 808 State - Dominator (Soulwax Remix)
12

The Mothers

The Mothers

#1) We're Only In It For The Money: Side 1 (Sue Me, There Aren't Any Track Breaks)

#2) We're Only In It For The Money: Side 2 (Rykodisc's repaired '80s version is better)

#3) Trouble Every Day

#4) Help I'm A Rock

#5) Call Any Vegetable
13

Dave Van Ronk

Dave Van Ronk

#1) Garden State Stomp

#2) You's A Viper

#3) Cocaine Blues

#4) Tell Old Bill

#5) Sunday Street
14

The Stranglers

The Stranglers

#1) Peaches

#2) No More Heroes

#3) Something Better Change

#4) (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)

#5) Golden Brown
15

Aphex Twin

Aphex Twin

#1) Aphex Twin- We Are The Music Makers

#2) Gentle People - Journey (Aphex Twin Care Mix)

#3) Saint Etienne - Your Head My Voice (Voix Revirement)

#4) Aphex Twin - Flow Coma (Remix By AFX)

#5) Aphex Twin - Radiator
16

Ministry

Ministry

#1) N W O

#2) Stigmata

#3) Jesus Built My Hot Rod

#4) Reload

#5) Everyday Is Halloween
17

The Cure

The Cure

#1) Never Enough (Big Mix)

#2) The Kiss

#3) Killing an Arab

#4) Boys Don't Cry

#5) The Lovecats
18

Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel

#1) For Emily Whenever I May Find Her (Live 1972)

#2) April Come She Will

#3) Scarborough Fair - Canticle

#4) A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert Mcnamara'd Into Submission)

#5) America
19

Naked City

Naked City

#1) Bonehead

#2) Saigon Pickup

#3) Batman

#4) The James Bond Theme

#5) Leng Tch'e
20

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

#1) Stray Cat Blues

#2) Midnight Rambler

#3) Tumbling Dice

#4) Gimme Shelter

#5) Shattered
21

Traffic

Traffic

#1) The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys

#2) Hidden Treasure

#3) Dear Mr Fantasy
22

Mocean Worker

Mocean Worker

#1) Chick A Boom Boom Boom

#2) Right Now

#3) Shake Ya Boogie
23

Mountain

Mountain

#1) Taunta (Sammy's Tune) / Nantucket Sleighride

#2) Theme For An Imaginary Western

#3) Mississippi Queen
24

Crazy Girl

Crazy Girl

#1) High Fire Hell (Credited to The Tards Alias)

#2) Cocaine Talk (Credited to The Tards Alias)

#3) Bad Ass Reputation
25

Hawkwind

Hawkwind

#1) You Shouldn't Do That

#2) Master Of The Universe

#3) Spirit Of The Age

1 – 25 of 50

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