One guy's soundtrack

    There are over 40 songs in my 5-Star Rock mix. Songs I would never turn off or thumb forward through. It doesn't mean they're the best or the most memorable songs ever recorded. But to me, they stand for some of the best music of my life for a variety of reasons, but mainly it's just because I think they are great songs. They may mean squat to you and that's OK, because that's the beauty of iPodding and blogging: they're mine and you may or may not disagree. And that's good, too. As always, I welcome your opinions...
    In no particular order:

• "It's Only Rock and Roll," Rolling Stones. Keith Richards is responsible for arguably over 20 of the most recognizable opening guitar riffs in rock history. This isn't one of them. This is just one of the best Stones songs ever and capsulizes the band's no-holds-barred rock. Next to the Beatles, there has been no band more important to the development of the music.
• "Ramblin Man," Allman Brothers. Southern blues and a great Dicky Betts riff to close out what many think is the band's finest five minutes.
• "Blinded By the Light," Manfred Mann's Earth Band. It may not have been the first album version made of a shorter song, but for anyone in their 40s who listened to AOR radio in the 1970s, you remember the long version and were upset if you got stuck with the shorter version on Top 40.
• "Fat Man in the Bathtub," Little Feat. At least the most uniquely titled song on this list. Impossible not to play air drums on this one.
• "Roof Garden," Al Jarreau. Primo jazz pop from one of our most unique vocal stylists alive.
• "Year of the Cat," Al Stewart. They don't make rock and roll with this kind of class and beauty anymore.
• "Good Vibrations," Beach Boys. An enduring classic.
• "Blowin' in the Wind," Bob Dylan. Best protest song ever. Period.
• "Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan. Rolling Stone recently ranked it the best rock and roll song ever. No arguments here.
• "She Says That She Needs Me," Brian Wilson. Need proof that Wilson was the brains behind the Beach Boys? Check out this mid-1990s masterpiece. Impeccable harmonies, a haunting melody and Wilson's unforgettable hooks. As good as anything the Beach Boys ever recorded.
• "Born to Run," Bruce Springsteen. What freedom sounds like.
• "Thunder Road," Springsteen. "Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk, and the car's out back and we're ready to take that long walk, from your front porch to my front seat. The door's open but the ride it ain't free." Do they write this kinda stuff anymore? I don't think so.
• "Old Days," Chicago. What it sounds like to have grown up in the 1970s even if it's about growing up in the Fifties and Sixties.
• "Texas," Chris Rhea. Big long roads out there, clear blue skies, warm breezes blow. If politicians ever change the state song, this one should be a shoe-in to be the new perfect ode to Texas. And it's some awesome rock and roll, too.
• "Taxi," Harry Chapin. Hopes and dreams and what should've been in one of the best story songs ever written.
• "Rosalita," Bruce Springsteen. Rock and roll nirvana.
• "Layla," Derek and the Dominos. Maybe the perfect guy rock and roll song. Screaming guitars, love, tears, and a touching ballad all rolled into one. A great date song. Well, if you're a guy.
• "My Thanksgiving," Don Henley. For a change, a little poignance from Henley, and a great message instead of the usual cynicism from the hard-edged Eagle.
• "South City Midnight Lady," Doobie Brothers. Country rock about a hooker, with elegant pedal steel work from Patrick Simmons.
• "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," U2. The eternal search with a driving beat from U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr.
• "Love is the Answer," England Dan and John Ford Coley. Could play just as well in a church sanctuary as on Top 40 radio in the Seventies.
  "People Get Ready," Rod Stewart. Raw gospel and blues and a killer guitar by Jeff Beck.
• "The Motown Song," Rod Stewart. Maybe the happiest, funnest song recorded in the past 25 years.
• "I'm So Afraid," Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey Buckingham ... a guitar genius rivaling Clapton and Santana, and channeling Stevie Ray.
• "Silver Springs," Fleetwood Mac. What heartbreak and desperation sound like in the Mac's most beautiful song.
• "Smooth," Santana. The only song released after 1990 that is impossible to get tired of.
• "Shower the People," James Taylor. One of the great love songs in the rock era.
• "The Secret of Life," James Taylor. The elegant beauty of JT ... on how to enjoy life to the fullest.
• "Miracles," Jefferson Starship. An essential Seventies power love ballad.
• "Small Town," John Mellencamp. Makes you want to come from one.
• "R.O.C.K in the U.S.A.," Mellencamp. Irresistible beat and great road music.
• "Still She Cries," Journey. Late-era Journey, when everyone had already given up on them. This is one of their best and most beautiful power ballads.
• "Up on the Roof," James Taylor. A guilty pleasure. Happy in the same way Stewart's "Motown Song" is.
• "Young Blood" and "Night Train," Rickie Lee Jones. An artist burned out far too soon, Jones' has an amazing vocal style and wrote some great blue-eyed, smokey soul.
• "Let's Dance," David Bowie. One of the most-played dance hall songs of the Eighties. And yes, that's SRV on guitar.
• "Aja," Steely Dan. A mini eight-minute symphony and far and away the Dan's best. Steve Gadd's drumwork ranks among the best ever in a pop rock-jazz song.
• "Texas Flood," SRV. The studio version is good, the live take on "Blues at Sunrise" is beyond great. For blues fans, a religious experience.
• "Shake for Me," SRV. Trying to win someone over to Stevie Ray? Put on this one.
• "Won't Be Fooled Again," The Who. Punk before there was punk. Keith Moon's drums and the organ solo make up what AOR in the Seventies was all about.
• "Who Are You," The Who. The last great Who song about a serious barroom brawl. Next time you give it a listen, check out Townsend's muted guitar work again ... it's impeccable.
• "She Loves You," The Beatles. Maybe the song that started it all.
• "The Long & Winding Road," The Beatles. Listen to the amped up over-production of Phil Spector, and then the 'Naked' version and the songs are both beautiful in their own ways. The stripped down version is the most beautiful song the Beatles ever recorded.
• "Imagine," John Lennon. One of the most important rock songs ever recorded. A timeless work of peace and hope.
• "The Stranger," Billy Joel. Nobody was doing this stuff in the mid-1970s. Truly an original.