MUSIC: Time for a meme

Via Tosy and Cosh (who is really into music), here's a meme about favorite songs by various artists.

I'm deleting a lot of categories, because I don't have a favorite song by the artist listed, and I could not care less about that particular artist. Like, say, Squeeze. Or Big Audio Dynamite.

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Favorite Beatles song: "Got To Get You Into My Life"
Dang, that's a toughie right off the bat. Too many to choose from. But that song always hits me just right, and fills me with joy. Great, high-spirited love song that, it turns out, is supposedly really about drugs. (But then, weren't they all?) "Revolution" would be second, I think.

Favorite solo song by a former Beatle: "Imagine"
That's a slamdunk. Haunting, simple, beautiful. One of my top five favorites of all-time.

Favorite Bob Dylan song: "Like a Rolling Stone"
Expect several of my picks to be this unimaginative.

Favorite Prince song: "1999"
See?

Favorite Michael Jackson song: "Thriller"
Check out Dark, But Shining for a nice examination of the "Thriller" music video from a pure horror perspective.

Favorite Metallica song: "One"
Epic metal, dude.

Favorite Public Enemy song: "By the Time I Get To Arizona"

Favorite Cure song: "Just Like Heaven"

Favorite song that most of your friends haven't heard: "Banditos," by the Refreshments -- my favorite band that most of my friends haven't heard.

Favorite Beastie Boys song: "Sabotage"

Favorite Police song: "Synchronicity II"
"And every single meeting with his so-called superior is a humiliating kick in the crotch." There aren't nearly enough songs with "crotch" in the lyrics for my money.

Favorite Sex Pistols song: "God Save the Queen"
I guess. I only know, like, two Sex Pistols songs.

Favorite song from a movie: "As Time Goes By"
An immortal movie moment from Casablanca.

Favorite Blondie song: "Call Me"
"Rapture" is a close second.

Favorite Genesis song: "Squonk"
From the band's post-Peter Gabriel, but still really weird, era.

Favorite Led Zeppelin song: "Stairway to Heaven"
What did I say about unimaginative? Actually, this is one of the few Zeppelin songs I can stand at all anymore. I'm sick to death of them. The only other one that I won't change the radio station when I hear it is "Kashmir".

Favorite INXS song: "Devil Inside"
I guess. I don't really like any of their songs. I should've deleted them, but I think I just wanted a chance to say that I don't like INXS. So there.

Favorite Weird Al song: "One More Minute"
Classic doo-wop-style break-up song that turns into dark territory. "I'd rather spend eternity eating shards of broken glass than spend one more minute with you."

Favorite Pink Floyd song: "Comfortably Numb"
Another tough choice. "Wish You Were Here" and "Eclipse" are right up there.

Favorite cover song: "All Along the Watchtower"
Hendrix's version improves the Dylan original a hundredfold.

Favorite U2 song: "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"Pride (In the Name of Love)" is #2.

Favorite disco song: "I Will Survive," Gloria Gaynor
The Cake cover version is also excellent. Runner-up: the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive."

Favorite The Who song: "Won't Get Fooled Again"
My favorite song of all-time. This song is rock & roll to me.

Favorite Elton John song: "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"

Favorite Clash song: "Lost in the Supermarket"

Favorite David Bowie song: "Suffragette City"
Wham bam thank you ma'am!

Favorite Nirvana song: "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Favorite Snoop Dogg song: "Gin and Juice"
That's the only one whose name I can think of right off the bat. There's a country cover of this song that I'd love to have, but I can't remember who performs it.

Favorite Ice Cube song: "It Was a Good Day"
I didn't even have to use my AK.

Favorite Johnny Cash song: "Ring of Fire"

Favorite R.E.M. song: "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
Mumble mumble mumble mumble LEONARD BERNSTEIN!

Favorite Elvis song: "Can't Help Falling in Love With You"

Favorite cheesy-ass country song: Hoyt Axton, "Boney Fingers"
Cheesy-ass? Guess we know where the author of this meme is coming from. Disco, dance, and Squeeze are presented with no snark, but country has to automatically be "cheesy-ass." Wise guy.

Favorite Billy Joel song: "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway"
This was a tough choice. I'm a big Billy Joel fan, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The man's a tremendous songwriter, but he gets dismissed a lot as some kind of joke these days, which is unfair. "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" would be my second choice, I think.

Favorite Bruce Springsteen song: "Born to Run"
Hell yeah! One of the top three pure rock songs ever recorded. "Won't Get Fooled Again" is another. The last one depends on what day you ask me.

Favorite New Order song: "Bizarre Love Triangle"
Pretty much the only New Order song I know. And I prefer the Frente version. Yes I do!

Favorite Neil Diamond song: "Song Sung Blue"
I grew up listening to my mom playing a lot of Neil Diamond and Helen Reddy on 8-track. Hey, at least it wasn't Perry Como! (She had those on vinyl.)

Favorite Beach Boys song: "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
A beautiful, happy song, but it always reminds me of the sad way it was used in Michael Moore's Roger & Me.

Favorite Dire Straits song: "Romeo & Juliet"
Though I prefer the Indigo Girls cover.

Favorite Elvis Costello song: "Radio Radio"

Favorite Guns 'N Roses song: "Sweet Child O' Mine"

Favorite Jimi Hendrix song: "All Along the Watchtower"
I've gotten burned out on Jimi as much as I have Zeppelin. This song still moves me, though.

Favorite John Mellencamp song: "Small Town"
"Pink Houses" is second.

Favorite Living Colour song: "Solace of You"
This is one of the categories Tosy added. Going a little obscure there, aren't you? But I've got it covered. This is a beautiful but rarely heard love song.

Favorite Neil Young song: "Cinnamon Girl"
A plethora to choose from here. "Rockin' in the Free World" and "Needle and the Damage Done" are right up there.

Favorite Paul Simon song: "You Can Call Me Al"

Favorite Simon & Garfunkel song: "The Boxer"

Favorite Queen song: "Princes of the Universe"
Highlander! There can be only one!

Favorite Sting song: "Fortress Around Your Heart"

Favorite Tracy Chapman song: "Fast Car"

Favorite Van Morrison song: "Moondance"

Favorite XTC song: "Dear God"
Followed by "Your Dictionary".