Top 100 favourite songs of all time [Part 1: Introduction]

Every year, Australian radio station Triple J run a poll called the Hottest 100, where listeners get to vote for their favourite songs of the year. On Australia Day every year, they have a countdown of the 100 highest voted songs, and soon after release a 2CD package of the highlights of the hottest 100.

Every so often, Triple J also ran a poll to determine the hottest 100 songs of all time. Well, they just finished one recently, and the results are in. A fairly predictable selection overall, if you ask me. While there are undoubtedly some classics on the list, there were some pretty amusing selections as well.

The nosebleed section by the Hilltop Hoods at position 17? Is this song really better than A day in the life by The Beatles, which only made it to position 24? Anyway, discussions like this are fruitless. This was a democratic poll of the opinion of Triple J listeners, and who am I to argue with the opinions of the masses?

I decided it would be an appropriate time to compile my top 100 favourite songs of all time. It was a difficult task, made much easier by the star ratings on my iPod. I started by setting a few ground rules:

• I could only include a single song by each artist/band. This was done mainly to keep it more interesting; otherwise the list would be full of songs by The Beatles, Radiohead and The Smiths (amongst some of my other favourite musicians).
• I would not even try to attempt to order the songs. This rule was imposed mainly for my own sanity. I find it difficult enough to order a top 10, let alone a top 100. My obsessive-compulsive nature would have driven me to insanity, and in many cases it would have felt like I choosing which child I preferred more.
• I would only choose songs that I legitimately own on iPod/CD. There are lots of classic songs which I don't own yet, for some reason or another. These are not eligible. And if it's on my iPod, I already own it on CD.
  

I have categorised the songs into separate posts based on the decade that they were released in. The next post will be the 1960s, the earliest decade which my favourite songs lie in.

Within a particular decade, the songs are sorted alphabetically by artist/band name.

Next to each entry, you'll see my very brief Twitter-esque synopsis of the song. This is also for my own sanity, as I don't want to spend months writing long descriptions of each song.

Please chime in with your personal favourites from each decade on the relevant post.

I hope that you enjoy the list!