This page will collect the list of S-Tier Songs as I go through them. It will be a perpetual exercise for as long as this blog remains.

An S-Tier Song is one I consider among the best. It’s the best of the best, really. There are plenty of good songs, some great songs, and not quite as many that truly raise the bar.

How do I evaluate what is an S-Tier Song? Of course I consider songs I think are the best. Evaulating music is a subjective experience, after all. There is no way to boil it down to a mathmatical scale or a cold, clinical lab test. What’s here is what hits hardest with me, at the end of the day.

But this has to at least bear consideration toward objectivity. I do other stuff like the Album Of The Week – that really has no bounds and doesn’t have a bar to clear. I can pick one of the most important, sacred things I’ve ever heard or I can pick something I liked because I went on a bender and jammed out to it in 1996. But for an S-Tier Song? I do have to at least frame in an objective sense, even if actual objective evaulation isn’t possible. To say that something is the best requires a bit more than “I really like this LOL.”

Another parameter I’ve put in place to guide this – I will treat it like a hall of fame in the sense that a song is not eligible for consideration before it’s five years old. I feel like hindsight should be a factor in evaluation and there would be too much of a tendency for me to award a new song that lights me up right away. I might look at differently in two yeas, or four. Five seems like the right amount of time to let a song settle and give it the test of time.

One other thing to consider – when I evaluate if a song should be S-Tier, I consider it purely in terms of itself. For example – my very first selection was Soundgarden’s “Burden In My Hand.” That means I went through that song and looked at it on its own terms. Do you think “Black Hole Sun” is better? You might, plenty of people do. My inclusion of “Burden…” does not exclude “Black Hole Sun” from this list, or even mean that I think the former is better. It just means that I chose the first one first. This isn’t a numbered list, it’s just an evaluation of songs over time.

I think that about covers it. Here is the master list of S-Tier Songs. I’d imagine that it’ll get pretty big over time, but we’ve got plenty of time to kill.

Vol. 1 – Soundgarden – Burden In My Hand

Vol. 2 – Judas Priest – The Sentinel

Vol. 3 – Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger

Vol. 4 – Iron Maiden – Hallowed Be Thy Name

Vol. 5 – Motley Crue – Wild Side

Vol. 6 – Skid Row – Wasted Time

Vol. 7- Type O Negative – Black No. 1

Vol. 8 – Bloodbath – Eaten

Vol. 9 – Blur – Song 2

Vol. 10 – Van Halen – Runnin’ With The Devil

Vol. 11 – Sonata Arctica – Don’t Say A Word

Vol. 12 – Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

Vol. 13 – Motorhead – Ace Of Spades

Vol. 14 – Bruce Dickinson – Tears Of The Dragon

Vol. 15 – A Perfect Circle – Judith

Vol. 16 – Tool – 10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2)

Vol. 17 – Alice In Chains – Down In A Hole

Vol. 18 – Dwight Yoakam – A Thousand Miles From Nowhere

Vol. 19 – Elastica – Stutter

Vol. 20 – Nightwish – Ghost Love Score

Vol. 21 – Metallica – For Whom The Bell Tolls

Vol. 22 – Ozzy Osbourne – Steal Away (The Night)

Vol. 23 – The Black Crowes – She Talks To Angels