List: Top Five Caveats For Shoulblog Lists

From time to time, Shoulblog does a “Top Five” list. The list is just what it says: the top five of whatever. But the “top” part is, of course, subjective. For various reasons—about five of them, actually—these lists may not be the definitive, all-time superlatives. Therefore, I offer these caveats:

5)  In a list of the top five of anything, I’ll generally try to restrict it to one song, record, whatever, per artist, per list. Yes, I know that sometimes a case can be made for more than one—for instance, how would one choose between Gimme Shelter and Sympathy for the Devil in a list of great songs?—but for the sake of variety and letting more groups have the glory of Shoulblog recognition, we’ll limit it to one per list.

4)  Of all of the numbers between one and five, four is the only one that’s not a prime number. Please adjust your expectations accordingly.

3)  The rule about writing is, “write about what you know.” That applies here, particularly in lists relating to music. There may be better or more representative songs/albums/artists out there, but if they’re not in my collection or I don’t know them, sorry, they’re not going to make the list. While I like to think of my music collection as pretty eclectic, I’m daily offered reminders of artists I wasn’t previously aware of, Plus, I’ve almost given up on any music recorded since the turn of the century. Not completely, but most of the stuff out there, I just don’t even bother to listen too. This is probably more a function of my age-induced crankiness than of a decline in quality, but don’t discount the latter possibility.

2)  Times can change; moods can change. What may seem like the best song in history one day might seem like a middle-of-the-packer the next day. Each of these lists is a snapshot in time. For instance, next week I might wish I’d made this caveat No. 4.

1) Hey, I ain’t perfect. Once in a very great while, I may actually be wrong about something. However, this is my blog, and just maybe what’s happening is that I’m correct and everybody else is wrong. (For instance, many people claim that 1 is also not a prime number. As far as I’m concerned, they have every right to be mistaken.) If you feel you’ve identified one such error—of commission or omission—feel free to let me know in the comments. Or, you can GYODB. Point is, as you well know from reading this blog for the last two years, I’m not perfect. Hopefully, though, it’s close enough for rock n roll.