Music Trajectory
Top 20 AFI Songs
I first came across AFI in 1997. They were one of the two opening bands for The Offspring, my favorite band at the time, who were on tour in support of the Ixnay on the Hombre album. I instantly loved AFI and a couple weeks later I picked up their first album, Answer That and Stay Fashionable. From then on I bought each new release. When AFI was recording Sing the Sorrow in late 2002, I definitely considered them to be one of my favorite bands and that record was one of the most anticipated albums that I can remember. Sing the Sorrow will probably go down as their best, most complete album but my personal favorite is The Art of Drowning. AFI has since released Decemberunderground and Crash Love, both good albums but I am partial to their older material.
So what are the best AFI songs? Everyone probably has a different opinion – and the band probably does as well – but what I tried to do with this list is take everything into account and I aimed to appease fans of the old stuff, fans of the new stuff, and do the band justice at the same time. You can look at this list as ‘AFI’s Greatest Hits’ meets ‘if I had a $20 iTunes gift card to buy AFI songs, which ones should I buy?’
- Research around the web
- How well the songs charted on Billboard and similar charts
- The overall popularity of the songs (Youtube video views, top iTunes/Amazon tracks, lists I found on message boards and blogs, etc.)
- The sheer awesomeness of the songs
- Some elements of my opinion and people that I know who love AFI
- The potential to fall in love with the song
- Songs that the band consistently play live
For more AFI lists that I posted check out: Top 15 Underrated AFI Songs, Top 15 Widely Unknown AFI Songs, and Top 20 Best AFI Songs – Editors Choice.
Listen to the complete Top 20 list as a Spotify playlist here
Watch the complete Top 20 list as a Youtube playlist here
20. “Summer Shudder” (2006)
19. “Porphyria Cutanea Tarda” (1999)
18. “Third Season” (1997)
17. “The Lost Souls” (2000)
16. “This Celluloid Dream” (2003)
15. “File 13″ (1996)
14. “The Despair Factor” (2000)
13. “Half-Empty Bottle” (1995)
12. “Wester” (2000)
11. “Fall Children” (1999)
10. “The Last Kiss” (1999)
9. “Medicate” (2009)
8. “Silver and Cold” (2003)
7. “Love Like Winter” (2006)
6. “Days of the Phoenix” (2000)
5. “The Leaving Song Pt. 2″ (2003)
4. “Beautiful Thieves” (2009)
3. “Totalimmortal” (1999)
2. “Miss Murder” (2006)
1. “Girl’s Not Grey” (2003)
Honorable Mentions:
“Two of a Kind” (1995)
“This Secret Ninja” (1996)
“Single Second” (1997)
“The Boy Who Destroyed the World” (1999)
“The Prayer Position” (1999)
“God Called In Sick Today” (1999)
“Sacrifice Theory” (2000)
“A Story At 3″ (2000)
“Bleed Black” (2003)
“Death of Seasons” (2003)
“The Interview” (2006)
“The Missing Frame” (2006)
“I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here” (2009)
Now that you’ve read the list, which songs would you pick as AFI’s best song? Which songs should be ranked higher or lower? Are there songs on this list you think should be taken off? Which AFI songs should have made the list but didn’t? Sound off in the comments section below!
Links of Interest:
AFI Official Site
AFI Youtube Channel
Follow AFI on Facebook
Follow AFI on Twitter
AFI Myspace Page
AFI Wikipedia Page
AFI Last.fm Page
AFI ArtistDirect Artist Page
AFI NME.com Artist Page
AFI Lyrics at LetsSingIt.com
AFI on Spotify
