The idea for this list came from the film “High Fidelity,” starring John Cusack, the only actor who can make a romantic comedy believable. In the movie, Cusack, Todd Louiso and lovable hobbit Jack Black compulsively make lists ranking the best and worse of various music categories. I wholeheartedly agree with one of Cusack’s character’s picks for the best side one, track one (“Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “White Light/ White Heat”), despite Black’s character ripping on him for his choices (he calls “Teen Spirit” too obvious).

Some of these choices are obvious, but I think what makes them obvious is how great they really are. I can’t discard some of the best songs ever written just because they’re obvious. Being well-known doesn’t automatically make good music bad (especially music from the 1960s and 1970s).

Now let’s face it; not all first tracks can be as good as, say, “Bawitdaba” off of Kid Rock’s “Devil Without a Cause,” “Livin’ La Vida Loca” off of Ricky Martin’s self-titled album, or “I Wanna Sex You Up” off of Color Me Badd’s “C.M.B.,” but I think the following 10 are pretty good.

1. “Like a Rolling Stone,” Bob Dylan (“Highway 61 Revisited”)

This is one of the best, if not the best, songs ever written. Dylan’s acid tongue and his piercing (some say autobiographical) commentary on going from the top of the world to struggling to obtain the most basic necessities in life is storytelling rivaled by none. He passes a very hateful song off as something almost upbeat, and it, along with “Desolation Row,” serve as bookends on Dylan’s best album. “Blowin’ in the Wind” from “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and “The Times They Are A-Changin'” from the album of the same name could have also gone on this list.

2. “Purple Haze,” Jimi Hendrix (“Are You Experienced”)

“Are You Experienced” plays like a greatest hits album, with “Purple Haze” as the first, and best, track on the record. Despite this song forever going hand in hand with LSD, Hendrix swore it was based on a dream he had that resembled “Night of Light: Day of Dreams” by Philip Jose Farmer. Yeah, and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is about a dream John Lennon had about an episode of “I Love Lucy.”

3. “Straight Outta Compton,” NWA (“Straight Outta Compton”)

“Straight Outta Compton” is gangsta rap at its core. The album leads off with the title track and goes into “Fuck Tha Police,” “Gangsta Gangsta” and “If It Ain’t Ruff,” which probably killed Tipper Gore a little inside.

4. “Blitzkrieg Bop,” the Ramones (“The Ramones”)

“Blitzkrieg Bop” is not only the most recognizable Ramones song, it is the song that started the Ramones’ career – the first single and the first song on the band’s first album. On the other end of the punk-rock spectrum, contrasting the simplicity of the Ramones, is the passionate idealism of the Clash, which has a song very deserving of this list: “London Calling” off of 1979’s “London Calling.”

5. Every album Led Zeppelin made between 1969 and 1973

This doesn’t sound like a very long period of time, but Led Zeppelin put out five albums during this span. All of them were insanely good and all of them started with some of the best Zeppelin songs: “Good Times, Bad Times” (“I”); “Whole Lotta Love” (“II”); “Immigrant Song” (“III”); “Black Dog” (“IV”); and “The Song Remains the Same” (“Houses of the Holy”). Actually, I might as well throw in “Achilles Last Stand” off of 1976’s “Presence,” just for good measure.

6. “White Room,” Cream (“Wheels of Fire”)

As Henry Rollins once said, “Cream is the band U2 wishes it could be.” Cream, however, is the band every band should aspire to be. It has the greatest guitarist to ever live (Eric Clapton) and one of the most underrated bassists (Jack Bruce) and drummers (Ginger Baker) of all time, and “White Room” is probably the best song the band did (with the possible exception of “Sunshine of Your Love”).

7. “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” the White Stripes (“White Blood Cells”)

This is essentially the starting point of the best band of the past five years (possibly longer, depending on when the Spice Girls broke up). “Dead Leaves” kicked off the White Stripes’ third album (first major-label) and began the streak of amazing records that prove it is possible to do something new and original, even when signed to a major-label deal that would suck the creativity out of most bands, much like R. Kelly sucked the innocence out of filming home movies.

8. “1999,” Prince (“1999”)

Not only can Prince ball and whip up a mean batch of pancakes, he can put out mammoth albums like “1999.” He probably would have rethought making a song about partying like it’s 1999 if he knew what 1999 was going to be like: President Clinton was under criminal investigation stemming from something half of the ISU student body does every weekend; the war in Kosovo was raging; two teenagers killed 12 of their fellow students at Columbine High School; a bonfire at Texas A&M gets out of control, killing 12; “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” is released on the world; and the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it that Way” spends 31 weeks on the Billboard chart. Not a very good year.

9. “I Got the Feelin’,” James Brown (“I Got the Feelin'”)

The Godfather of Soul snagged his sixth R&B No. 1 with this song, and he still had 11 more to come in his five-decade career. “I Got the Feelin,'” however, tops “I Feel Good,” “Say it Loud” and even “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.”

10. “White Light/White Heat,” Velvet Underground (“White Light/White Heat”)

The Velvet Underground has to be one of the most underrated bands in the history of music. Although acclaimed now, the Underground had almost no commercial success when Lou Reed and company were together from 1965 to 1970. The band pretty much spawned the raw, gritty punk sound the Ramones would pick up four years later, and had a series of what should have been chart-topping songs, the best of which was “Rock and Roll” (but alas, “Rock ‘n’ Roll” was No. 3 on “Loaded,” not No. 1) and the most well-known of which was “White Light/White Heat.”

Runners-up

“Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nirvana (“Nevermind”); “Blue Suede Shoes,” Elvis Presley (“Elvis Presley”); “Baba O’Riley,” the Who (“Who’s Next”); “Ruby Tuesday,” the Rolling Stones (“Flowers”); “Come Together,” the Beatles (“Abbey Road”); “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the Beatles (“Meet the Beatles); “For What It’s Worth,” Buffalo Springfield (“Buffalo Springfield”); “Highway to Hell,” AC/DC (“Highway to Hell”); “Break on Through,” the Doors (“The Doors”); “Cowboys from Hell,” Pantera (“Cowboys from Hell”); “California Dreamin’,” Mamas and the Papas (“California Dreamin'”); “Devil’s Haircut,” Beck (“Odelay”); “Let’s Get it On,” Marvin Gaye (“Let’s Get it On”); “Down on the Corner,” Creedence Clearwater Revival (“Willy and Poor Boys); “I Get Around,” the Beach Boys (“All Summer Long”); “Changes,” David Bowie (“Hunky Dory”); “Tiny Dancer,” Elton John (“Madman Across the Water”); “Cocaine,” Eric Clapton (“Slowhand”); “Sweet Home Alabama,” Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Second Helping”); “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Simon and Garfunkel (“Bridge Over Troubled Water”); “What Ever Happened,” The Strokes (“Room On Fire”); “Tutti Frutti,” Little Richard (“Georgia Peach”).