#10 – “Interstate Love Song” Stone Temple Pilots

The theme music for an autumn drive.  You lip-sync every time you hear this.  Admit it.

#9 – “Praying For Time” George Michael

This song is just beautifully written and performed.  Period.

#8 – “Only” Anthrax

A bit heavy for most tastes, admittedly.  But quite possibly a perfect hard-rock song.

#7 – “Would?” Alice in Chains

The haunting sparseness of the song will allow it to sound more timeless than their grunge contemporaries.

#6 – “Follow The Leader” Eric B & Rakim

Rakim never got the credit he deserved.  The peak of his career came before they figured out how to market rap music.  Brutally relentless in his delivery, no gimmicks, no bullshit.

#5 – “Midlife Crisis” Faith No More

Surreal, poetic lyrics…layered melodies…and just enough of the trademark FNM quirkiness.

#4 – “The Choice is Yours [Revisited]”  Black Sheep

Instantly recognizable and sing-able for every American aged 30-45.  Yet almost never mentioned in any compilation of the best hip-hop songs of the era.

 #3 – “Cult of Personality” Living Colour

We’ve covered this earlier, but in my opinion it was this song, not Nirvana, that started the rebirth of rock music.

#2 – “By The Time I Get To Arizona” Public Enemy

Everything that hip-hop could be, both lyrically and sonically.