Criteria

HOW THIS LIST WAS COMPILED (Simple Version)

First of all, I make no claim to some sort of special revelation, either spiritual or intellectual, that qualifies me uniquely to compile this list. I'm just a guy with an internet connection, a little computer knowledge, a bunch of free time, and a buttload of worship music. The reason I'm doing this instead of you is that I thought of it first and, when no one else was paying attention, I called 'dibs'.

That being said, my simple criteria for inclusion and placement on this list was a combination of sort of a global popularity of a song combined with a slight dash of personal preference. I fully expect to receive comments like, "What? You put 'Lord, Reign in Me' at #65???? Are you nuts? That's top 20 for sure". That's all part of the fun of doing this.

Where it all started? Sure, why not.

Lastly, for the purposes of this list, I consider (rather arbitrarily, I'm sure), that 'Modern Worship' starts around the time that Delirious came out with their 'Cutting Edge' CDs, approximately 20 years ago (1995). There may be a few pre-Delirious songs that make the list, but that's my general cut-off point.

This is a very general explanation of how this list was compiled. Since I like to talk, I'm going to go into more detail below, but you certainly don't have to read and comprehend everything below to get the gist of what's going on here. But you can read it if you'd like, I'm told I'm a pretty funny guy, so there's that.


HOW THIS LIST WAS COMPILED (In depth version)

Did you ever go to a blog where you were promised the '25 GREATEST SONGS IN THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL'? You get there, and you find out that the blogger has 14 songs from Duran Duran is his top 25 all time.

OK, we get it. When you were a kid, and you didn't have much money, you owned a couple of Duran Duran cassettes and you played them over and over and you loved them. But that doesn't make them the best of ALL TIME. (Kids - ask your parents who Duran Duran was. For that matter, ask them what a cassette is).

Yep, kids, there was a time when these guys were the coolest guys on the planet

You see, that was part of the challenge for me in compiling this list - having personal preference creep in so much that it would affect the integrity of this list. I mean, my list would be pretty pathetic if 7 of my top 10 worship songs of ALL TIME were songs played by Mike Spagnuolo at Summer Camp 2001.

So, in order for me to include a song on this list, there has to be some sort of minimal, general consensus that it's a pretty darn good worship song. This list is NOT my 100 favorite worship songs of all time, it's meant to be a list of the BEST worship songs of all time, even though I might not particularly love them all.

MAN, I USED TO LOVE NOSTALGIA

Sometimes hearing an old song is great, it brings you back to the people, places, and things that you were invested in when that song was popular. However, there does come a point in the history of a song where you are just about done hearing it, if you catch my meaning. Another one of my challenges in making this list was to avoid thinking that just because a song is 'played out', it means that said song isn't very good or never was.

For example, it was probably about 10 years ago that I was mostly done listening to 'Here I Am To Worship'. It just seemed that, at the time, every worship set was legally required to include it, and every Christian pop star who wanted to make his or her 'worship' album had to include it and put their own spin on it.

So, while I personally wouldn't include 'Here I Am To Worship' in any mix tape I made for my semi-daily run, I do have an obligation to recognize that the song certainly belongs on any Top Worship Songs list; and that, due to immense popularity and generally good quality, it should occupy a pretty lofty spot as well.

TIME IS THE TIE-BREAKER

I think it's perfectly logical for someone to say that 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' is one of the greatest albums of all time. However, I don't think you could make that argument in 1967, since it had just been released. Not enough time had passed to give it 'all-time' status. (Kids - you're going to have to go to your grandparents on this one. Ask them about Sgt. Pepper, ask them what an album is, and ask if they had electricity and indoor plumbing in 1967).

You've gotta make GREAT music to pull off those outfits

There are a few more recent songs on this list, and there's some decent worship music coming out right now. However, for the most part, it's too early to label some of the more recent vintage 'Best Of All Time'. Of course, this is just a general rule, and is meant to be interpreted loosely. As a matter of fact, one of the songs on this list was just released in March of this year. 

MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE PUSHED ASIDE (uh, except when it's not)

If there's one thing that everyone, everywhere, in every culture, in the entire history of the world can agree on, it's what constitutes good music and what constitutes crappy music (NOTE - insert sarcasm button here. FOLLOW-UP NOTE - invent sarcasm button). So yea, people's musical tastes vary wildly.

I've tried very hard to create more of a consensus list than a personal preference list, but there's almost no way that my personal taste won't creep in. So, what I've decided to do is to embrace it (in small doses). Occasionally (but not too often), you'll see kind of a One-Of-These-Things-Is-Not-Like-The-Other song on this list. That's just Andy being Andy. I've decided to allow myself some indulgences in that respect, but I'll try not to let it get out of hand.


So, to sum up: My knowledge is probably subpar, my writing skills are severely lacking, my methodology is almost certainly flawed, I'm not particularly likeable, and my personal preferences are weird and will probably make this whole list a big joke.

So, uh, ENJOY!

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