My Top 1000 Songs #899: (Don't Fear) The Reaper

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

To be honest, I totally dread when I hit these overplayed classic rock chestnuts on the list. They feel almost like obligatory inclusions that feel a little too pedestrian--c'mon, why not sub it out for another Pavement or Guided By Voices track?--and, frankly, it's kinda boring.

Boring!

Still, this was a hit single when I was 10, all the way back in 1976, an...