My Musical Top 12, #1

 Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

#7 Paper in Fire - John Mellencamp

#6 Fins -  Jimmy Buffett

#5  Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

#4  Turn the Page - Bob Seger 

#3 Listen to What the Man Said - Paul McCartney and Wings 

#2 5150 - Van Halen

#1 A Man I'll Never Be - Boston

I doubt if any of you could have guessed this, but this has been my favorite song since I was a kid. Boston was the headliner of the first band I saw in Concert (Sammy Hagar Opened for them) in 1979. 

This is a song of the Dpn't Look Back Album and it really didn't hit the charts other than briefly, but it has always been a song that I have loved. If you ask me what song I have listened to more than any other, this would be it. 

Brad Delp's amazing vocals just captivate you and the lyrics are ones that I have found myself singing in 6 different decades. It;s a song that you put the headphones on, crank up the volume and let Brad's melodic voice just capture you and take you away to another place and time. 

Did anyone guess my #1? How about any of my top 12? 

My Personal Music Top 12, #2

Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

#7 Paper in Fire - John Mellencamp

#6 Fins -  Jimmy Buffett

#5  Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

#4  Turn the Page - Bob Seger 

#3 Listen to What the Man Said - Paul McCartney and Wings 

#2 5150 - Van Halen

Now we are getting down to the absolute nitty-gritty to my top 12. I have always been a Sammy Hagar fan, and when David Lee Roth left Van Halen and Sammy joined, I thought it was the absolute perfect match and I was not wrong. Truth be told Sammy was the first act at my first rock concert years ago. He was the opening act at the Coliseum back in 1979, and that was the first time I was ever exposed to Sammy's Music. He was the opening act to the band who holds the #1 distinction on my countdown ironically. 

Eddie Van Halen has to be one of the greatest guitarists ever, he had his own unique sound that could not be confused with anyone else. When these two got together on their first collaboration together, the album was called 5150 and 5150 just happens to be my favorite track from my favorite album. 

I was fortunate enough to this particular group (not with Roth or Gary Cherone) of Van Halen years ago at the old Star Lake. It was during the Balance tour, the last tour they did before they split the first time. 

If I want to hear something uplifting and will get you pumped, Van Halen was usually my go to and this is the song I probably listen to the most. 

My Personal Music Top 12, #3

 Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

#7 Paper in Fire - John Mellencamp

#6 Fins -  Jimmy Buffett

#5  Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

#4  Turn the Page - Bob Seger 

#3 Listen to What the Man Said - Paul McCartney and Wings 

This was a tough one for me, for one I love the Beatles who are the most successful band in music history, but this song is Paul McCartney and has a very specific meaning to me. While I am a big Beatles fam I was a bigger Paul McCartney fan so I put him in the countdown with his work with wings rather than the Beatles. 

Listen to what the man said takes me back to the Summer of 1975. The old Riverside Pool was in its final year of existence, the year before Krepps Park opened, and I used to go with my cousins and Aunt every day of the summer to the pool. Sharon, Lynne, Glenna Mae and I were always there, it was pool you actually had to drive to as it was out close to Maidsville along the river. Where the Longview Power, Loading Dock currently resides.  

It seemed like for weeks every time we pulled into the parking lot, this song was always playing on the radio. So I have always associated it with a great Summer and a place I used to love to go and swim at. Anything goes at that pool, scuba masks, boats, inflatable floating lounge chairs, you name it the pool was big enough to accommodate everything. 

 I miss those days, but every time I hear this song or 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago it always takes me back to that summer swimming with a two very special cousins. 

My Personal Music Top 12, #4

 Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

#7 Paper in Fire - John Mellencamp

#6 Fins -  Jimmy Buffett

#5  Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

#4  Turn the Page - Bob Seger 

I have always been a big Bob Seger fan, I first started to get into hinm with my old buddy Smitty when he was a huge Bob Seger fan. He was always listening to his against the wind album.

It was a couple of years later, I remember stopping by my Sister Terri's and hearing the sone Turn the Page on the radio. I stayed in the car and listened and sang it, it was one of the first times a song actually captivated me like that. It has the ability to pick you up and put you into his life as if you were the one living it. You knew what it was like being an early 70's rock star and some of the troubles you may run into. 

Funny story, back in the 90's I used to play softball for Judies Lounge here in Morgantown. Well Sunday - Thursday Night Judies was a strip bar then would bring in bands on Friday and Saturday Night. Of course you have a bunch of guys with a great softball sponsor giving us free entry, free beer and so many pitchers of mixed drinks and they had naked girls running around, so I may have stopped by a few times after games. I remember one night one of the strippers put this song on the JukeBox. Big mistake, instead of guys sitting by the stage tipping her, we were all in the front of the bar all singing this song un unison. She was just sitting on the stage just shaking her head. I think that was the last time she selected that music to strip to....lol

My Personal Music Top 12, #5

Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

#7 Paper in Fire - John Mellencamp

#6 Fins -  Jimmy Buffett

#5  Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

Def Leppard is a band that I fell in love with the first time I heard them. I first noticed them around 1982 when they published their third album, Pyromania. The first song I remember hearing was Photograph and I thought these guys kind of had a led zepplinesque about them Heavy Guitar Riffs and Vocals they just invited you to scream out. 

Their fourth album, Hysteria took them being an awesome rock band to the leaders of the industry. A lot of good music came on that album including my favorite Def Leppard song Pur Some Sugar on Me. It was almost an anthem to my generation sung by a band with a one-armed drummer named Rick Allen who lost an arm in a car wreck between Pyromania and Hysteria. The band could have easily replaced him, but they didn't they waited on him to re-perfect his craft minus an appendage. 

I still love listening to their music all these years later. 

My Personal Music Top 12, #6

Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

#7 Paper in Fire - John Mellencamp

#6 Fins -  Jimmy Buffett

Anyone who knows me knows I love me some Jimmy Buffett. I think I have seen him 12 times and Michelle I think is at 11. The artist I have seen more than any other artist. Michelle and I actually themed our wedding around his lifestyle. 

The first time I had ever heard fins it was live at PNC Park. 50,000 people in Unison waving their hands in the air and I was hooked. It was a tough choice to make a favorite Jimmy Song, there are so many that he does that I absolutely love, but I think Fins has to take the top spot for Jimmy in my rankings...this week. 

Some of Jimmy's band are outright legends in their own right. Mac McAnally is a 10 time Country Music Association Musician of the Year. Nadirah Shakoor has the absolute voice of an Angel. Morgantown's own Ellie Mannette, the inventor of the Steel Drum even played the Steel Drum for Jimmy at PNC Park. How many of you knew that the best Steel Drums in the world were made in Osage? 

My Personal Music Top 12, #7

 Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

#7 Paper in Fire - John Mellencamp

I have always been a John Mellencamp fan. Even back when he started out as Johny Cougar to when he was John Cougar Mellencamp to his real name which is John Mellencamp. 

He's always had a soulful rhythm about him and what he sings and records. I always find myself listening to his greatest hits album Words and Music, it's just one of those albums you can listen and relisten to and every song puts you into a different kind of mood and euphoria. His music just has that kind of Magic. 

Paper in Fire is probably my favorite song that he has done, and there were so many that I could have chose from, it's always touched me from the first time I ever heard it. 

My Personal Music Top 12, #8

Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

#10 Still They Ride - Journey

#9 Rough Boy - ZZ Top

#8 Immigrant Song -  Led Zepplin

Led Zepplin is arguably one of the best rock bands in history, they have an endless catalog of great music to choose from and there are a dozen or better songs that I could have selected. Stairway to Heaven is probably their most notable piece of work that everyone identifies with, hell I could probably do a top 10 Led Zepplin blog and have a lot of fun doing it. 

Robert Plant in my mind is one of the best vocalists in rock Music, Rainbow is a song that just shows his vocal range as a solo artist. Plant along with Steve Perry and Paul Rogers (Free, Bad Company, the Firm), Freddie Mercury are arguably in my opinion 4 of the best vocalists in the genre. 

However for this week the Immagrant Song and it's hard-charging riffs that causes it's listeners to have an eargasm of excitement and really inspires you to be the best at what you are doing, the I can't be defeated mentality that this song delivers is riveting. 

My Personal Music Top 12

 Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12 If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

#11 I Believe in You - Don Williams

This is a song that touched me in my older years and not really one that I liked when it was released. I'm a rock and roll kind of a person, but I had to put a little bit of Country Music on this list and I selected one that really reaches out and touches me. 

I always liked Don Williams, but his music was rarely on my playlists. About 10 or so years ago he appeared at a bar in downtown Morgantown and I seriously thought about attending. I think his works are simple, memorable and melodic and this is a perfect example of a great artist. 

His voice only got better with age. 

My Personal Music Top 12

 Looking for something different to do on Wednesdays, so I thought I would come up with a series of My personal Top 10 (it's going to be 12 in this case) of my favorite music growing up through the years. I decided I did not want to repeat any artists to allow for a variety, so I had to come up with 12 unique songs by 12 unique artists that I personally have enjoyed the most through the years. I'll do one song/artist every Wednesday from my own personal preference. How well do you know me? Do you think you know my top 12 and in order? 

#12

If you Don't Know me by Now - Simply Red

This is a very special song to me, I loved it when Simply Red put out their version in the 1980's and it has always been one that I have loved. Mick Hucknall I have always thought had a great melodic voice, the song was originally performed by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes back in 1972, but Simply Red's 1989 version always touched my heart in a way that very few songs do. 

When Michelle and I were married nearly 12 years ago, she told me to pick the song of our first dance and I thought this song was absolutely perfect. 

All these years later it still stands true, because we think so similarly and always seem to have the same train of thought before the other one says anything, it's simply amazing.