CC's All-Time Hot 125

As This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio listeners know, we end each year with a countdown show, playing back what we played a lot over the course of the preceding twelve months. New songs, old songs, songs of varying in-between vintage--great records don't care what year it is. The stats are kept by my friend Fritz Van Leaven, and the countdown shows were Fritz's idea to begin with. The countdowns are nothing short of epic, and we can't thank Fritz enough for making them possible.

More than forty years ago, Fritz introduced me to the idea of compiling and then annually updating a personal all-time Hot 100 of favorite individual tracks. We devoted a 2024 episode of TIRnRR to selections from Fritz's Hot 100, because we play the hits. GO, Fritz!

As for me, well, you've gotta expect that a guy whose last book took 145 tracks and insisted that each one of them was The Greatest Record Ever Made! might possibly have an eensy bit of difficulty in narrowing down a list of his Fave Raves. I love SO many songs, so many great records, and I had to omit a soulcrushingly vast number of 'em to come up with my own updated list. I stopped when I'd whittled it down to 125. Close enough! The list is unranked (though I've proclaimed elsewhere that Badfinger's "Baby Blue" is my all-time # 1), and the list is alphabetical by song title. And here 'tis:

CC'S ALL-TIME HOT 125

ANIMAL FARM--The Kinks

ANOTHER SAD AND LONELY NIGHT--The Bobby Fuller Four
ANY WAY YOU WANT IT--The Dave Clark Five
BABY BLUE--Badfinger
BABYSITTER--The Ramones
BAD REPUTATION--Joan Jett
BEG, BORROW AND STEAL--The Rare Breed/The Ohio Express
BLITZKRIEG BOP--The Ramones

CARBONA NOT GLUE--The Ramones
COULDN'T I JUST TELL YOU--Todd Rundgren
DA-A-A-ANCE--The Lambrettas
DANCING WITH JOEY RAMONE--Amy Rigby
DIE TRYING--New Math
DO ANYTHING YOU WANNA DO--The Flashcubes
DO THE FREDDIE--Freddie and the Dreamers
DO YOU WANNA DANCE?--The Ramones
DOOR INTO SUMMER--The Monkees
DOUBLE OUR NUMBERS--Parthenon Huxley
ELEVATION--Television
EMPTY HANGERS--Anny Celsi
EVERYWHERE THAT I'M NOT--Translator
FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST--P. P. Arnold
FIRST PLANE HOME--The Flamin' Groovies
FIVE O'CLOCK WORLD--The Vogues
FOOL OF LOVE--The Bobby Fuller Four
GIRLS IN THEIR SUMMER CLOTHES--Bruce Springsteen
GIRLS TALK--Dave Edmunds
GLAD ALL OVER--The Dave Clark Five
GOD ONLY KNOWS--The Beach Boys
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN--The Sex Pistols
GOING DOWN TO LIVERPOOL--The Bangles
HARD DAY'S NIGHT--The Beatles
HE'D BE A DIAMOND--The Bevis Frond
HEADING OUT TO THE HIGHWAY--Judas Priest
HEART FULL OF SOUL--The Yardbirds
HEARTS WILL BE BROKEN--The Records
HELP!--The Beatles
HIGHWAY LINES--Mannix
HIM OR ME--WHAT'S IT GONNA BE?--Paul Revere and the Raiders
HIS LAST SUMMER--The Barracudas
I CAN'T EXPLAIN--The Who
I CAN'T LET GO--The Hollies
I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP--The Ramones
I DON'T WANT TO SPOIL THE PARTY--The Beatles

I LOVE YOU--The Heartbreakers

I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU--Dusty Springfield
I TELL NO LIES--The Shoutless
I TOOK MY BABY HOME--The Kinks
I WANNA BE SEDATED--The Ramones
I WANNA BE WITH YOU--The Raspberries

I WANNA BE YOUR BOYFRIEND--The Rubinoos

I'M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME--The Jayhawks
(I'M NOT YOUR) STEPPIN' STONE--The Monkees
(I'M) STRANDED--The Saints

IN THE CITY--The Jam
IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR--Wilson Pickett
IT'S COLD OUTSIDE--Stiv Bators
IT'S MY LIFE--The Animals
IT'S THE SAME OLD SONG--The Four Tops
JOHNNY B. GOODE--Chuck Berry

KICKS--Paul Revere and the Raiders
KIM THE WAITRESS--Material Issue
LAUGH, LAUGH--The Beau Brummels
LIES--The Knickerbockers

LITANY (LIFE GOES ON)--Guadalcanal Diary
LOOK THROUGH ANY WINDOW--The Hollies
LOVE IS ONLY SLEEPING--The Monkees
LOVE IS PAIN--Joan Jett and the Blackheartss
MILLION MILES AWAY--The Plimsouls
(MY GIRL) MARYANNE--The Spongetones
NIGHT BEFORE--The Beatles

NO MATTER WHAT SHAPE (YOUR STOMACH'S IN)--The T-Bones

NO MILK TODAY--Herman's Hermits
NO PROMISE--The Flashcubes
NO REPLY--The Beatles
NOTHING REALLY MATTERS WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG--The Flashcubes
ON BROADWAY--The Drifters
ON MY RADIO--The Selecter
PERSONALITY CRISIS--The New York Dolls
PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY--The Monkees
PLEASE DON'T TOUCH--Headgirl [Motörhead/Girlschool]
PLEASE PLEASE ME--The Beatles
PORPOISE SONG (THEME FROM HEAD)--The Monkees
PROMISED LAND--Chuck Berry
RAIN--The Beatles

REMINISCE--The Flashcubes
ROCK AND ROLL LOVE LETTER--The Bay City Rollers
ROCKAWAY BEACH--The Ramones

SAYING GOODBYE--The Muffs
SEPTEMBER GURLS--Big Star
SHAKE SOME ACTION--The Flamin' Groovies
SHE SAID SHE SAID--The Beatles
SHE SAID TO ME--The Cowsills
SHEENA IS A PUNK ROCKER--The Ramones
SHOUT IT OUT LOUD--KISS
SOLITARY MAN--Neil Diamond

SOUND OF THE RADIO--Screen Test
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE--The Cocktail Slippers
SWALLOW MY PRIDE--The Ramones
SYRACUSE SUMMER--The Tearjerkers
TEARS OF A CLOWN--Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
THANK YOU, GIRL [Capitol Records US mix]--The Beatles
THAT THING YOU DO!--The Wonders

THIS YEAR'S GONNA BE OUR YEAR--Eytan Mirsky
TIME HAS COME TODAY--The Chambers Brothers
TIME WILL TELL--Holly Golightly
TIRED OF WAITING FOR YOU--The Kinks
TO SIR, WITH LOVE [Museum Outings Montage]--Lulu
TOMORROW NIGHT--Shoes
TRANSYLVANIA TWIST--Baron Daemon and the Vampires
TWENTY FOUR HOURS FROM TULSA--Gene Pitney
UNCLE JOHN'S BAND--The Grateful Dead

VACATION--The Go-Go's
WALK--DON'T RUN--The Ventures
WATERLOO SUNSET--The Kinks
WE GOT THE BEAT--The Go-Go's
WHAT AM I DOING HANGIN' 'ROUND?--The Monkees
WHAT TIME IS IT--Jive Five

(WHAT'S SO FUNNY 'BOUT) PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING--Elvis Costello and the Attractions
WHEN WE CLOSE OUR EYES--The Flashcubes

WOULDN'T YOU LIKE IT--The Bay City Rollers

YOU MUST BE A WITCH--The Lollipop Shoppe
YOU REALLY GOT ME--The Kinks
YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME--The 13th Floor Elevators
YOU'VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY--The Beatles

LAST THREE OUT:

AIM LOW--Mary Lou Lord

FIVE PERSONALITIES--The Richards

HEARTS IN HER EYES--The Searchers

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 

TRUE LOVE WAYS--Buddy Holly

(It's not even my favorite Buddy Holly song, but "True Love Ways" was my wedding song, so it carries a unique importance in my life, an importance well apart from the impact of my other fave raves.)

DAYS--The Kinks

(A long-time favorite, rendered bittersweet after I included its lyrics in the eulogy I delivered at my dad's funberal in 2012. I still adore the song.)

ALL MY LOVING--The Beatles

(The first song I sang to my newborn baby daughter Meghan in 1995.)

And, of course, about a thousand other individual tracks that I love just about as much as these. All-time fave raves are kinda like potato chips: No one can dig just one.

Nor just 100.

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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here