My Personal Top 25 Bands of All Time

I thought I would start a little ditty over the coming days or weeks giving my captive audience a list of my personal Top 25 Bands/Musical Artists of All Time. I want to venture away from the sports and political discussions for a bit. Politics scare me and the current states of my teams have taken me to depths I haven't felt in a long time. The more metaphysical subjects just aren't hitting right now either. I will begin by releasing 5 at a time until I get within the top ten then I'll release 3 at a time. I maintain the authority to change that when we get there depending on how this goes.

Disclaimer: This is my 100% subjective, opinion of MY favorite bands. This is NOT an objective list of the Top Bands in general. I fully acknowledge my taste in music is not very schooled. I understand that there are a number of bands that are of a higher quality than the bands I list here. This is all about my personal opinion, my tastes. I can assure you that many of you will disagree. This is what I want. Comment your disagreement with any aspect of my list.

Criteria: To make sure we are clear on how I chose who I chose and why I placed them where they are, let me give you my basis for thinking. I picked bands who have a long list of songs I enjoy listening to and threw them on a piece of paper. I got to about 100 and started eliminating bands who didn't live up to the others in terms of albums, look, attitude, persona and vibe. Many times their live shows play a large role in eliminating them or including them despite the other factors positive and negative. I try to take longevity into account to avoid the "newness" of the band to me but sometimes that has been overlooked. I also allow for their role in particular times in my life play a part in where I place them. Many times a band is connected to a good memory or person or period of my life and I automatically have this good feeling attached to them. Overall, this is really based on the immediate feeling I get when I hear this band or of this band. Then I go from there. Like I said, purely subjective and one can easily poke holes in this. That is the point. What are the holes you would poke? (And I'm sorry I have no cool indie bands here. My musical depth is pretty shallow)

So here we go:

Close But No Cigar: You gotta have that section of the "Almost Made Its" right? Here a several artists I love but couldn't crack the Top 25.

Johnny Cash...I have really grown to love his stuff of late. Unfortunately too little to late. "Folsom County Blues," "I Walk the Line," "A Boy Named Sure" and "Ring of Fire" are a couple hits I love.

Guns 'N Roses:..."Appetite For Destruction" their debut album, was awesome. And I actually enjoyed a lot of their later stuff. Axl Rose's signature voice and the rock hard songs definitely got my blood pumping.

Bad Religion:..."Stranger Than Fiction" is my favorite album by Bad Religion. I love their political message. I just got into them too late to get them into the Top 25.

Eric B.and Rakim: ....classic rap taking me back to early high school. I always loved Rakim's voice and the beats Eric B. laid behind him. "Paid in Full" and "Follow the Leader" are my favorite albums.

Also worthy of being named....Ministry, Tool, The Ramones, Journey, Beastie Boys, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Alice Deejay, Godsmack, The Crystal Method, Rammstein, Stereophonics and Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (Man my list could go on)

For real now....THE TOP 25 OF HUEY'S FAVORITE MUSICAL ARTISTS

25) Public Enemy..Great live show. Chuck D. is a master. Politically charged lyrics that satisfied my need for teenage rebellion back in high school. I actually learned a lot from this group as odd as that may sound.

24) Nine Inch Nails...My wife and sister-in-law would have me shot if I didn't include Cleveland product Trent Reznor. "Pretty Hate Machine" was a strong album top to bottom but I loved "broken" the most. The intensity of this industrial rock god has been so much fun to play and play loud.

23) Huey Lewis and the News...a bit of a break from NIN, Huey Lewis has so many pop hits that I couldn't leave him out. I believe this is where I deserve the most questioning from my readers. Why this cheese op guy ahead of the likes of Tool, Pearl Jam, The Ramones and so on? I don't know. I just love his catchy tunes, I could sing to his stuff for hours. Also, good memories of my childhood with this guy. Back to the Future and "Power of Love?" C'mon! Any fifth grader from the suburbs would dig that. I did anyway.

22) Hanzel Und Gretyl:...These guys are just flat out fun to see. I have only seen them twice but loved the show both times. When I'm in the mood for the over the top loud, power show rock they play with their German gimmick, there is no one better. These guys are here more for individual songs, memories of college and good friends and live performances. "#1 In Deutchsland" and "SS Deathstar Supergalactik" are awesome songs.

21) Nirvana...I am one of those guys that didn't catch on to Nivana until "Nevermind." But I loved that album. With Stone Temple Pilots' "Core" and Pearl Jam's "Ten," this album began the transition for me from rap to rock. While I loved the songs that got tons of airplay, it was the rest of the album that really pulled me in. Songs like "Territorial Pissings," "Breed," "Drain You," "Lounge Act, "Stay Away" and "On a Plain" separated the album from mediocre to great. I am now wondering why I didn't rank these guys higher. You can't mention this band it seems without referencing Kurt Cobain's death. I do remember when it happened but I would rather rank these guys here for their music. If I was able to get into their earlier stuff a bit more over the years, I imagine they would be a top 15 band for me. Unfortunately, I was stuck in the hip hop world at that time.

So there you have it. 25 through 21. Next up 20-16. It may be next week. Maybe tonight. I don't know. But what do you think? Who do you think will crack the top 20? Which one of these bands belong higher in your mind or not on any top 100 list?

More opinions

As I drove around with my daughter today listening to the radio a song came on by Live, a standard rock band maybe classified as alternative but that is up for debate. Anyway, I recalled how numerous people I know mentioned they like Live. I don't. So I thought I would present a list of bands that are generally well liked by my peers but disliked by me. This is not necessarily a judgement on their quality because I, and sometimes my peers, do not know quality music when we hear it. Also, some of my peers do know quality music, just not all. Again, this is a matter of opinion not fact.

Live- As I already stated, I have yet to hear a friend of mine agree that this band stinks. I don't know why I think so, but I just never got into them.

Rush- If I had a dime for every time I have to hear how their drummer is the best drummer of all time and how epic this band is.......but I like ZERO songs by this group and refuse to give any other stuff I haven't heard a chance.


Dave Matthews Band- Yes, college girls around the country back in the 90s have every right to get into this "jam band" as they dance around in their bare feet on the lawn of outdoor amphitheaters across the land, but I don't have to like it. Honestly, the radio overkill of these guys is what did it for me. Once they began to fade off the radio I actually began to enjoy some of their stuff. I liked the character Dave Matthews played in the movie, "Because of Winn Dixie" and started to change my opinion because he seemed like a cool guy, but the new radio station in Columbus, 106.7 which is pretty cool, has regressed back to the 90s overkill of DMB and rekindling my old feelings.


Blues Traveler- For all I know this guy is a musical genius. But it means little because I find every song I have heard by them annoying. I saw them live when I worked at Polaris Amphitheater in Columbus and still didn't like them. The crows sure did....but to this day I avoid their stuff.

Matchbox 20-Sorry Kathryn and Vicki, I do not like any of their stuff. Blah!

Garth Brooks-The one song that gets played at the end of wedding receptions (Friends in Low Places I think) is kinda cool when I've been drinking but otherwise.....can't stand his stuff.

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Here are some artists/bands that most of my peers seem to dislike but I can't help but enjoy:

Journey-My main man Norm will agree but otherwise, it seems to be the older generation that feels my love for the power ballad kings of the 80s. Man, there is no better music to tap your foot with authority to than the Steven Perry led power rock songs by Journey.

Bryan Adams-Oh so bad that I can't help but sing along. I mean how many of his stuff did we grow up on sitting in the back seat of the car as mom drove us to soccer practice, tee ball games or friends' sleepovers.

Barry Manilow- Takes me back to the days working at the Butcher shop. I know way too many words to way too many of his songs.

Huey Lewis and The News-Some great 80s pop. I remember using copies of one of his album covers as my poster to run for student council in grade school. I lost. But it was a sweet poster: "Huey Lewis says- 'Put a Fellow Huey in Office. Vote 6th grader John Huey for Student Council'" I thought it was clever.


Linkin Park-I know they appeal more to angry teenagers and they are commercial and "artificial" using computers and "inorganic" sounds and may seem manufactured but I have bought in.

Both lists can go on but I'd like to hear some bands you enjoy that most of your peers don't and vice versa.

Or points of mine that you disagree with. I bet there are a bunch.