327. "Vasoline" by Stone Temple Pilots

First of all, Radiohead fans, this is where the drumbeat of "Airbag" comes from. STP got there first.

"Vasoline" endears itself to me as simultaneously gorgeous and garish.

Rhythmic ideas collide like radiation out of a solar flare. The drums and two-note verse guitars form polyrhythms, all sunk into a broth of threateningly aggressive hand drums.

The chord concepts are as adventurous as they are sneering in their originality. The guitar solo is another Dean DeLeo celebration of tonality and noise in less than 30 seconds, on an album full of his most productive work. The raspy, warbley vocal melody and harmonies by the departed Scott Weiland demonstrate why his work will outlive all the shrunken, prudish opinions of him.

326. "Under the Bridge" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers

This guitar part is the "Stairway to Heaven" of my own generation. Every proper guitar kid had to produce it upon request. The structure is even Stairway-esque, the drums holding a hi-hat and rim shot for most of the song before exploding Bonhamly for a dramatic ending.

It's a song that the melodically ham-fisted Chili Peppers didn't deserve to write, because this one is an absolute sincere winner. Anthony "Give it up like the kaiser" Kiedis, for one day, mustered the brilliance to come up with these enduring verse, chorus, and ending vocal ideas.

Good for them.

They spent a second career with their fingers in the air, hoping for another lightning strike.

I saw the video for this song in the early '90s, in that fortuitous 1992, and I knew for the first time in my young life that the world was actually changing.

Or was it? "Under the Bridge" got to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart but could never unseat #1, "Jump" by Kris Kross... Most people really just do not care.

325. "Under Cover of Darkness" by The Strokes

"Under Cover of Darkness" is the fullest song the Strokes ever wrote, with ambitious structural depth, angular guitar lines, and an earnest chorus. The final repetition adds a brilliant blunt guitar and a joyous collection of background voices.

324. "Under Control" by The Strokes

Julian Casablancas is a punk crooner whose talents as a singer and melody craftsman will have to wait until our ratty little deaths for their full due.

323. "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear

It's been a second since I slapped this stiff stallion, so I'll whip it out again: Drum creativity is song creativity.

The rainbows and mists of harmony collect within the valleys of the drums' sure stone.

Truly, one of the most stirring drum performances on any recording, down to the solo tip-tapping hi-hat in the vocal breakdown. When you're killing a basic hi-hat beat holder, you're ebullient with sound.