NJ’s Chris Christie shares 20 fav songs, #12 may surprise you

Politico did an interesting thing possibly trying to humanize the presidential candidates or at least offering a unique insight into what makes them tick.

It started with X (formerly Twitter) user Nick Worrall posting a 20-song challenge.

Make a 20-track comp of your all-time fav tracks, each artist can only feature once. Not the ‘best’ songs, the ones that bring instant joy the second you hear the first note, the ones that give other people the best insight into what stirs your soul. Share when ready. #20tracks

Politico picked up on this and turned the question loose on presidential candidates and sat back to see who would answer. Wouldn’t you know former governor Chris Christie, having been to well over a hundred Bruce Springsteen concerts, would be drawn to a music challenge. Yet you couldn’t repeat an artist. What would he do there?

Obviously with his favorite artist being Bruce he would put a Springsteen song at his number one slot. But which song? And what about the other 19?

So here’s how it shaped up. And I really am kind of surprised at one of them.

1 — Thunder Road — Bruce Springsteen

2 — I Saw Her Standing There — The Beatles

3 — Gimme Shelter — Rolling Stones

4 — Dream On — Aerosmith

5 — Pink Houses — John Cougar Mellencamp

6 — Pressure — Billy Joel

7 — Livin’ on a Prayer — Bon Jovi

8 — Run to You — Bryan Adams

9 — Every Teardrop is a Waterfall — Coldplay

10 — In the Air Tonight — Phil Collins

11 — Let’s Go Crazy — Prince & the Revolution

12 — Castle on the Hill — Ed Sheeran

13 — Tiny Dancer — Elton John

14 — Roxanne — The Police

15 — And She Was — Talking Heads

16 — Where the Streets Have No Name — U2

17 — Mr. Brightside — The Killers

18 — Finish what Ya Started — Van Halen

19 — Hotel California — The Eagles

20 — Runnin’ Down a Dream — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I guess 12 surprised me because I wouldn’t take Christie for an Ed Sheeran fan. To be honest, Coldplay got a double take from me as well. Which in turn brings up the question did Chris Christie or any of these candidates really pick these themselves?

Or did some quick research from their camps determine what songs might appeal to a demographic that they could be running stronger in and went with it?

Personally, I think Christie is a passionate enough guy that he probably really did pick these. I don’t know about the others.

If you want to see which other candidates played along and what they chose find it here. And how weird is it that Vivek Ramaswamy played along but could only come up with 8?

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.