[Music] Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs (Updated Edition)

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 4:22 pm

Whenever I read the thread: What are you listening to right now, I hear in the Louie Louie voice before the lead break.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 6:42 pm

Once you get into the top 300 or 200, you're just listing great songs. Rating one of them five or fifty points higher than another is irrelevant, since a listener in a different mood could just as accurately swap them.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 6:45 pm

Proud Mary is one of those songs that took on a life beyond it's creators. I like the CCR version just fine, and I do really like the Tina Turner version. She adds emotion that Fogarty lacked.

I'm also surprised Nightswimming is so high. It was a very minor hit for the band.

Baba O'Reilly - I'm a huge Who fanboy, and when this song came out, synthesizers were just starting to be used by mainstream bands. I grew enamored with the device, and The Who, Yes and ELP were favorites at the time thanks to it. Just curious, YK...what are your thoughts on Pete Townshend's solo stuff? Empty Glass was a hit album for him and is really terrific, Lifehouse is a more experimental art rock collection that really shows off his talent (and that of the late Ronnie Lane). I saw him when touring on this set. In his autobiography, though, he admits he was at his best writing for Roger's voice, but why things kind of went to shit after Moon died was unexplained.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 11:10 pm

Jeff V wrote:Just curious, YK...what are your thoughts on Pete Townshend's solo stuff?

I honestly couldn't tell you if I've even heard any of it other than "Let My Love Open the Door" (which I actually really like). I'm willing to give it a shot though.

I hate to bash on The Who because it really is one of those cases of "it's not you, it's me." I have zero explanation as to why I don't care for their stuff when there are so many other classic rock bands I love. I guess some bands just never click, and it pains me because I like to think I like ALL kinds of music and almost never dismiss any genre our artist out of hand. It's probably just chance - they're a band that were slightly before my time, and unlike some other bands before my time I just never stumbled across them in the right way to rediscover them.

Well let' s keep on truckin' - the songs are definitely getting more and more classic as we get up this list.

150 - Green Day - "Basket Case" - I remember kind of hating this song in 1994 when it came out. I was entering college and I think I had moved past the rebellious punk stage. Green Day just seemed like a watered down version of rebellion and something about the whole thing rubbed me the wrong way. Time won out, however, and the band I saw as a flash in the pan annoyance turned out to have incredible longevity. While I can't claim to be a fan, I have nothing against them these days and love a lot of their stuff.

149 - Elton John - "Rocket Man" - Quite possibly my favorite Elton John song. While I'm no astronaut, I am in the IT field, and sometimes I identify with this song a little too closely. "All the science I don't understand, it's just my job five days a week." Yeah, I totally get that. I went through a period of time early in my marriage where the job pressures were making me more and more isolated from my wife, and this song is a painful reminder of that. But with a happy ending - we worked through it and are going strong almost 20 years later.

148 - Led Zeppelin - "Kashmir" - I always associate this song with my scouting expedition up to NC State to check it out before I moved up there my sophomore year of college. Can't remember if I mentioned it before yet, but my first BIG box set that I dropped a lot of coin on was the complete Led Zeppelin studio albums. Still have that set, it's fantastic.

147 - Fats Domino - "Blueberry Hill" - I only know this song from one of those old Time Life music collection commercials. I know it's a famous song, but literally I think that's the only place I've ever heard it in the wild.

146 - James Taylor - "Fire and Rain" - I'm a huge fan of James Taylor - not surprising since he may be the king of 70s singer-songwriters. Getting to see him perform this live was one of my favorite concert experiences. We were only 10 rows back, and since he once lived in that area of North Carolina he was really giving it his all with a lot of anecdotes about growing up there. I think I've got just about all of his concert DVDs.

145 - Outkast - "Ms. Jackson" - This is another album I used to wear out back in the day. My wife and I used to listen to it all the time. Heck, we still use a phrase from this song to this day. Ex: Me: "Man I haven't heard this song in forever." Wife: "Forever? Forever-ever? Forever-ever????"

144 - The Rolling Stones - "Jumpin' Jack Flash" - Another classic Stones track. Probably not in my top 5 Stones songs, maybe not even top 10, but it's still a great song.

143 - The Clash - "London Calling" - Again, this whole scene's not really my cup of tea. It's fine. I guess I just don't have any way to identify with people being pissed at their government since I don't live there. I love the UK, it's on my bucket list to get over there. Pre-COVID I had planned to take my wife over there next year for our 20th wedding anniversary. I guess London is calling my name, hopefully one of these days I'll make it happen.

142 - George Jones - "He Stopped Loving Her Today" - This song really needs to be higher on the list in my opinion. Greatest country song of all time? I could argue that and be absolutely sincere. I remember the first time I heard this song - really HEARD it. Understood it, as an adult. And it was soul-crushing. And I'm not a fan of schmaltzy country songs that manipulate your emotions. But this song? I buy it completely. I'm all in. I remember watching one of those singing contest shows and a contestant sang this, and the judges ripped her a new one for daring to even touch this song. It is sacred in the country music industry. You don't cover it. Just listening back to it for this challenge is making me tear up a bit. Dammit George Jones!

141 - Rod Stewart - "Maggie May" - This is one of my wife's favorite songs of all time, and heck, mine too. I need to find a good tab for the ukulele to play the mandolin parts of this song. The song itself chord-wise is super easy to play - if I could nail the intro and solos I could virtually guarantee my marriage would be safe forever.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:51 am

412 - Neneh Cherry - "Buffalo Stance" - Another one of those entries that I consider a one-hit wonder and question why it ever made the list of the greatest songs of all time. ALL TIME. (I feel like I'm going to get tired of saying that). I remember liking this song at the time it came out in 1988, but it sounds kind of dated now (in a bad way). And I had to listen to the full 5+ minute version of this. You owe me.

no. NO. this IS one of those greatest, to me.

400 - David Bowie - "Station to Station" - The first of what I assume will be many Bowie tracks on this list. I got into Bowie fairly late - I think the first time I paid any attention to him at all (besides his role in Labyrinth) was 1997's Earthling, as I really liked "I'm Afraid of Americans." Of course after that I went into Greatest Hits and eventually into back albums.

this track is absolutely amazing and easily ranks among my all-time Bowie favorites (who is one of my all-time favorite artists). just the way it shifts between the different musical parts... "it's TOO LATE / to be late again..." ima gonna go play all of _Station to Station_ (original RCA pressing, naturally) on my hi-fi now - it's totally the transition between his warm retro-Americana phase and the chilly ultra-modern one and you can hear both parts fighting it out here. "iT's NoT tHe SiDe-EfEcTs Of ThE cOcAiNe"

...and as great as this song is, it's _still_ not my favorite on the album (which is "Word on a Wing")

397 - Public Enemy - "Bring the Noise" - Not much to say about this one, I wasn't into this type of music at the time. However, I will say in hindsight this sounds a lot more mature and advanced than 1987. When I think 1987 rap I'm still thinking Fresh Prince and the Fat Boys. This was on a whole 'nother level.

the layering and production on those first few albums (well, ok, not the very first one) were something else. still really impressive.

395 - Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force - "Planet Rock" - This is a really fun track. There is so much to unpack here - the cheesy call out to the ladies, the numerous calls to get funky, the eerie keyboards, the robot voices. It's like blasting off on a rocket ship on a sci-fi adventure. I didn't know this song going in, but after listening I'm totally OK with it being on this list.

those keyboards were sampled from Kraftwerk! (another all-time favorite)

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:31 am

YellowKing wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 11:10 pm
Jeff V wrote:Just curious, YK...what are your thoughts on Pete Townshend's solo stuff?
I honestly couldn't tell you if I've even heard any of it other than "Let My Love Open the Door" (which I actually really like). I'm willing to give it a shot though.

I think this was the first townsend solo song I remember from the radio (It's very Who)

Spoiler:

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:57 am

140 - Bob Marley & The Wailers - "No Woman No Cry" - Another staple from "Legend." Another track I heard probably a dozen times walking across campus every day. I remember hearing the original studio version of this after having heard the much more popular live version a hundred times and was taken aback by how inferior it was.

139 - Madonna - "Vogue" - This song has always irked me for the stupidest of reasons, and it's the non-rhyme where Madonna sings "Don't just stand there, let's get TO IT, strike a pose, there's nothing TO IT." Cringe.

138 - Blondie - "Heart of Glass" - Blondie might be one of the first MTV artists I remember on MTV. I think I was pretty fascinated with Debbie Harry as a kid. She was striking in her videos. I'm hoping "Rapture" is on this list because that song is the #1 song that terrified me as a kid - to the point I blocked it from my mind until many years later.

137 - Ariana Grande - "Thank U, Next" - I don't know many Ariana Grande songs at all - even my daughter isn't into her which is how I typically know about young artists I'm way too old to understand. I don't think I'd ever even heard this song. I knew Ariana Grande from when she was an actress on the Nickelodeon show Sam & Kat where she spoke in an incredibly annoying voice. So when she became a music superstar I was thinking, "Oh it's that annoying girl I hate from that kid show." She falls into my Beyonce bucket of superstars I can name MAYBE one song on a good day.

136 - Otis Redding - "Try a Little Tenderness" - This is a song that I wouldn't think of for this list in a million years, but every time it comes on I'm like "Damn, that's a good song." I think it's one of those songs I never hear in the wild, but it's usually placed perfectly in some movie scene and then the light bulb goes off.

135 - The Beatles - "She Loves You" - I avoided early Beatles like the plague when I first got into them. I just thought the Beatlemania stuff was childish oldies tunes, and I didn't listen to that crap. I had to get deeper into them to realize the pop songs they were putting out were not only written by them (a bit of a rarity at that time), but many levels above a lot of the other stuff coming out at the time. I love the chord changes in this one, it's a lot of fun to play.

134 - Tina Turner - "What's Love Got to Do With It" - I think the reason I wasn't a huge fan of songs like this is that they landed at the perfect time when I considered them "mom rock." I was ten years old and this was the stuff on the radio my mom was jamming to and I just didn't like it. As I got older, those songs turned nostalgic, and my attitude softened considerably. I'm still just not a huge Tina Turner fan, but listening to this back at 46 as opposed to 10 is an entirely different experience. I'm picking up what you're putting down, Tina.

133 - Journey - "Don't Stop Believin'" - I'm in the minority as one of the people who absolutely loved the final scene of The Sopranos, set to this song. While this song has probably long overstayed its welcome, there's no denying it's a classic. My kids are a big fan of the Jimmy Fallon "Peter and his Heckler" sketch of this song with Will Ferrell. If it comes on the radio they'll start chanting "Streetlights! People! Streetlights! People!" (Go look it up, it's hilarious).

132 - Eric B. and Rakim - "Paid in Full" - Wasn't familiar with this track, but it was apparently a precursor to modern gangsta rap. There's a really cool little flute sample thing going on in the background. It sounds dated by today's standards with the record scratching bit, but I still liked it.

131 - Ben E. King - "Stand By Me" - This is another standard I had to learn in keyboard class. I played this freaking song to the point I was downright sick of it. It's a great song though.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:59 pm

re: Blondie - I saw Debbie Harry (not with Blondie) in a show that included the Tom Tom Club, Jerry Hairiston (so 3/4 of the Talking Heads) and The Ramones as the headliners. Harry was sort of dull until she did Heart of Glass. Then she got into her older, punkish stuff and that really got the crowd going.

re: The Clash - London Calling -- this was one of my first introductions to the band, after their cover of I Fought The Law. I remember falling completely in love with this double album.

re: James Taylor -- I was never into his genre really, but I do like his stuff. Even more so after reading Carly Simon's autobiograpghy.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Oct 14, 2021 9:25 am

130 - Martha and the Vandellas - "Dancing in the Street" - This is one of my rare exceptions to my universal love of girl group songs. While I love Martha and the Vandellas, I really don't care for this song at all. Can't explain why, but I've never liked it and never liked any version of it. I don't dance, so in general songs about dancing don't really click with me.

129 - Drake featuring Majid Jordan - "Hold On, We're Going Home" - Don't know it, don't know why it's on this list (never mind this highly ranked). Sounds like any <insert random song on the radio here>.

128 - Led Zeppelin - "Whole Lotta Love" - One of my biggest regrets is that I neglected to visit Hard Rock Park when it opened in 2008. It was a theme park in Myrtle Beach only an hour from me. It was one of those things where it was an hour away so I could just zip down there anytime, so what's the rush? Well the park was only open a few months under the Hard Rock branding before going bankrupt, and even after being rebranded as Freestyle Music Park in 2009 stayed open for only one season. So I never got to experience the Moody Blues dark ride (which was supposedly pretty amazing) and the Led Zeppelin rollercoaster which featured this song. Not that it was that great a coaster, but the combo of riding a coaster with this song blasting would have been pretty cool.

127 - TLC - "Waterfalls" - I talked about my wife and I listening to TLC in the "No Scrubs" entry. I'll always associate them with our date nights down at the beach. I remember you could not escape this song when it came out.

126 - George Michael - "Freedom! '90'" - Not my favorite George Michael song by a long shot (that would be Father Figure, thank you very much). This is another artist that I just grew up with, from his Wham days until well into his solo career. You know how you like some artists because you can identify with them? I had ZERO in common with George Michael. I thought he was always a bit of a cheeseball, but dammit I liked his songs.

125 - Sex Pistols - "Anarchy in the U.K." - I've already said that this genre is quite a bit out of my listening circles, but this is an all-time classic. I remember my brother and I singing "I am an anti-christ, I am an anarchist" back when we didn't know what the hell that even meant.

124 - Buddy Holly - "That'll Be the Day" - Perhaps one of the most identifiable Buddy Holly songs outside of "Peggy Sue." Listening to it now it just goes too far back for me to really enjoy anymore, but there was a time where I was eating this era up.

123 - Talking Heads - "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" - My earliest memories of Talking Heads was seeing the "Burning Down the House" video on MTV, and then the "Once in a Lifetime" video. I loved how weird David Byrne was, and became a fan from just those two songs. This is such a great track. This band just takes me to a happy place - it just puts my soul at ease.

122 - The Impressions - "People Get Ready" - Out of all the protest songs to come out of the 1960s, this is one I've always really liked. Maybe because it's not angry, and it's not cynical. It's just a beautiful call to come together for a cause.

121 - The Beatles - "Let It Be" - I used to have a major temper (I have since mellowed out a great deal). There were many times when this song's refrain ran through my mind in an attempt to calm myself down. I am sooo looking forward to the Peter Jackson Beatles documentary.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Oct 14, 2021 10:10 am

120 - X-Ray Spex - "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!" - What in the seven hells is this? Female punk, never heard of this band. Pretty cool though.

119 - Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - A song which has been recorded multiple times in various incarnations, but this is probably the definitive version. It kind of has this slightly sinister air to it with the rich orchestration going on in the background. It's really an amazingly well put together production with how all the pieces fit together (Gaye's vocals, the background vocalists, and the instrumentation). This might be the first time I've really noticed the complexity.

118 - Radiohead - "Creep" - A bit ironic that the song that made Radiohead famous is one the band hates and only recently added back into their set list. My brother had this album, and while I liked this track, I didn't really care for anything else on the record. It wouldn't be until OK Computer came along that I sat up and took notice of the band, and I've only grown more fond of them as the years have gone by. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Radiohead live was one of the best concert experiences I've ever had.

117 - Aretha Franklin - "I Say a Little Prayer" - I liked this song long before its famous resurgence in "My Best Friend's Wedding." I must confess, however, that I far prefer the original Dionne Warwick version. Aretha brings the soul, but come on - this is a Burt Bacharach song. I just feel like it works better with Bacharach's cheesy Vegas production.

116 - Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock - "It Takes Two" - Thanks to a great James Brown sample and a fun hook, this one became a bit of a late 80s club staple.

115 - Etta James - "At Last" - At the risk of being cliche, we played this song at our wedding reception. It had been a favorite of my wife and I long before we ever got married. When we weren't listening to TLC (ha!) we listened to a lot of old jazz standards vocalists - Frank Sinatra, Etta James, Dean Martin, etc. The reception was a bit of a disaster - we made the mistake of cheaping out on the wedding photographer because he was a friend of a friend, and I think the guy was about 80. He was sooo slow that it left our guests waiting about an hour in the reception hall before we were able to get free. Getting to dance to this at the end before leaving for our honeymoon made it all worth it though. Not a dry eye in the house!

114 - Britney Spears - "Toxic" - I'm not a huge Britney fan, but I love this damn song, and the music video. Free Britney!

113 - Stevie Wonder - "Higher Ground" - Confession - I think I knew about the Red Hot Chili Peppers version of this song before I heard the Stevie Wonder original. When I hit my Stevie Wonder phase, however, it became a favorite.

112 - R.E.M. - "Losing My Religion" - I've already talked about what a huge R.E.M. fan I am, and this song was my introduction to the band. After coming back from Germany in high school, a buddy of mine and I wrote a parody version of this called "Losing My Good Vision" based on our drunken escapades. We were a bunch of dorks (actually we still are so what else is new). I listened to "Out of Time" probably more than any other album in the 1990s, and it's still my sentimental favorite R.E.M. album.

111 - Bruce Springsteen - "Thunder Road" - I actually had never heard this song until I got into roller coasters in 2014. My local park Carowinds had a twin wooden racing roller coaster named Thunder Road, which was inspired by the 1958 movie Thunder Road, which was also the inspiration for this song. Sadly, Carowinds bulldozed Thunder Road several years ago to make way for a waterpark expansion. I was able to take one of the last rides on Thunder Road. It was at a coaster event, and our club was given exclusive ride time on the coaster after the park had closed. It was late evening, and there was a full moon directly centered above the lift hill, like something out of a movie. My brother and I rode it and it was the best ride I'd ever had on it. The old girl was just flying. When we got off the ride, I asked my brother if he wanted to ride again as we still had a bit of time left. "No," he said, "Let's just leave it at that. That was the perfect ride." And so we walked away from it, leaving only that memory intact. R.I.P. Thunder Road.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Oct 14, 2021 3:02 pm

Just 100 left to go after this. I'll pick it back up after my long weekend.

110 - The Beatles - "Something" - Arguably George Harrison's signature song of his Beatles period. Also one that I recently learned to play on the ukulele. Paul McCartney used to (maybe still does) perform this song on the ukulele during his shows as a tribute to George (George was a big ukulele fan). He performed it when I saw him in concert with pictures of George flashing on the screen behind him. It was really emotional.

109 - Sly and the Family Stone - "Everyday People" - And so on, and so on, and scooby dooby doo. Always thought this song was funny with the "nanny nanny boo boo" melody.

108 - The Cure - "Just Like Heaven" - One of the two Cure songs I can actually name, haha. I've just never been a fan. This is a fine track, I've just never really understood the goth-drama vibe of Robert Smith.

107 - Wu-Tang Clan - "C.R.E.A.M." - I bought "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in 1994 because everybody had that damn album. I wasn't even really into rap at the time, but I wore this album out.

106 - The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy for the Devil" - Great song but the Guns n' Roses version is far superior. KIDDING. It's really weird how some songs stick in your mind associated with a very particular memory. For some reason this song instantly brings to mind a small section of road I used to travel every day coming home from work.

105 - David Bowie - "Life on Mars" - This is probably my favorite David Bowie song, but I couldn't tell you why. My daughter absolutely loves it too, and this video (with Bowie in absolute peak Ziggy Stardust mode) is one of her favorite music videos period. Heck, I even loved Jessica Lange's bizarre performance of this on American Horror Story.

104 - The Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back" - I loooove The Jackson 5. The beat in this song is just plain sick, so its no wonder it's been sampled and copied so many times over the years.

103 - Alanis Morrissette - "You Oughta Know" - People these days look at "angry woman" songs like "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood and thank she's pissed. But those of us who were around when this album came out know Carrie ain't got nothing on the pure unbridled rage Alanis unleashed with this song. This was an absolute favorite album when it came out, and I feel like even then people kind of subconsciously knew it was a classic. This song scared the hell out of me though, I'm not going to lie. Not in a horror movie way, but in a "I-might-get-my-dick-chopped-off" kind of way. I really hope the rumors that it was about Dave Coulier are true, because I really can't stand Dave Coulier after having had to watch Full House reruns incessantly at my house thanks to my daughter.

102 - Chuck Berry - "Maybelline" - The shelf life of this one has expired for me. It's weird going back through this list, it's like anything pre-1970 is starting to fall off my "might ever want to listen to again" list.

101 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Maps" - In the early 2000s I was all about some indie rock. I was seeking out every band I could find. There was a huge surge at that time where "indie" was mainstream, and I was caught up in that tidal wave. So indeed I had this album and listened to this a lot.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 10:30 am

100 - Bob Dylan - "Blowin' in the Wind" - I can certainly understand why this is on the list - as Rolling Stone points out, it is probably the most famous protest song ever written. Not one that I really care to listen to much, as it's Dylan at his most basic lyrically (which I guess is saying something).

99 - Bee Gees - "Stayin' Alive" - Surely, YK, you didn't have a disco phase! Please tell me you didn't sink to such tawdry depths! Well, I hate to break it to you, but I DID have a disco phase. In fact, it's one in which I listened to the Bee Gees an embarrassingly large amount of time. Hey, I even had a Bee Gees lunchbox in kindergarten!

98 - The Beatles - "In My Life" - This is one of my all-time favorite Beatles songs. For such a nostalgic, "looking back on my life" song, it's amazing to think that Lennon wrote it when he was all of 25 years old. Also amazing to realize it's just one of several transitional songs on the album that signified a huge shift away from the band's "boy band" pop music.

97 - Patti Smith - "Gloria" - I didn't recognize this song at all until 3 minutes in and the "Gloooria" refrain came through, and I think that was probably from a cover, not the original. Didn't really do much for me.

96 - Jay-Z - "99 Problems" - Other than introducing a new phrase into my lexicon (I got 99 problems but <insert something here> ain't one), I never really did much with Jay-Z. He's another one of those superstar artists that I could name maybe two songs. This one and that Hard Knock Life one from Annie. Nothing against him, my musical orbit and his just never intersected.

95 - Oasis - "Wonderwall" - While these days this song may be so overplayed that it induces cringes in coffee shops across America, I remember being BIG into Oasis in 1995. There was a lot of controversy because they were comparing themselves to The Beatles in spite of drawing on heavy Beatles influences, but I didn't care. I thought this album was amazing. Looking back on it today I'm not sure what I was hearing that was so different from everything else at the time, but I remember really getting lost in this album and the follow-up.

94 - Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You" - While Whitney's version (rightfully) holds the mantle as the "definitive" version of this song, I must confess I love Dolly Parton's sadder, sweeter original more. That's more about me being a huge Dolly fan though. Whitney sang the living hell out of this song and elevated it into something epic.

93 - Kelly Clarkson - "Since U Been Gone" - A little surprised to see this one so high on this list, but I do like the song. Of all the American Idol winners over the years, Kelly Clarkson is still my favorite. According to Rolling Stone this was originally supposed to be a Pink song, and you really can't unhear that after learning it. It sounds *exactly* like a Pink song and would have probably been a big hit for her.

92 - Little Richard - "Good Golly, Miss Molly" - Not much to say about this classic, so I'll instead tell you about my cockatiel. I have a 23-year old cockatiel named Molly, but he's a boy. My wife got him when we were dating, and the first vet we took him to said he was a girl (when they're really young, it can be hard to tell). So we named him Molly, he learned his name, and then years later when we took him back the vet said.."Umm....you do know Molly's a boy right?" So like a boy named Sue, Molly had to grow up with a girl name.

91 - UGK featuring Outkast - "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)" - Wasn't familiar at all with this one, but fun to hear some Outkast I hadn't heard before.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:34 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 3:02 pm 105 - David Bowie - "Life on Mars" - This is probably my favorite David Bowie song, but I couldn't tell you why. My daughter absolutely loves it too, and this video (with Bowie in absolute peak Ziggy Stardust mode) is one of her favorite music videos period. Heck, I even loved Jessica Lange's bizarre performance of this on American Horror Story.

Over the years, I have settled on this being my favorite song of all time.

92 - Little Richard - "Good Golly, Miss Molly" - Not much to say about this classic, so I'll instead tell you about my cockatiel. I have a 23-year old cockatiel named Molly, but he's a boy. My wife got him when we were dating, and the first vet we took him to said he was a girl (when they're really young, it can be hard to tell). So we named him Molly, he learned his name, and then years later when we took him back the vet said.."Umm....you do know Molly's a boy right?" So like a boy named Sue, Molly had to grow up with a girl name.

My girl dog named Ziggy can relate.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:20 pm

90 - Aretha Franklin - "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - In one of the most unfortunate associations of a song to a brand I've ever experienced, I can't listen to this song without thinking of a douche commercial. I'm sorry, I can't. There it is, one of the best songs of all time, and I can't listen to it without thinking of feminine hygiene.

89 - The Beatles - "Hey Jude" - One of my favorite song easter eggs of all time is the F-bomb Paul drops in this song at the 2:58 mark. I used to incorrectly attribute it to John, as he exclaims "Oh!" right before it. John is the one, however, that insisted it be left in. He tended to be the one to want to leave little flubs and mysteries in the songs for the fans to chew over.

88 - Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine" - I think I talked about Germany and Guns N' Roses for "Welcome to the Jungle." This is arguably the better song and suitably higher on the list.

87 - LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends" - I had a very brief period of LCD Soundsystem love, back when I was going through an electronica phase listening to bands like Air, Boards of Canada, etc. While I know they don't really fit into that genre, somehow they got pulled into the same listening rotation. The relationship would be short-lived, however. I think I listened the hell out of one album then never went back to them.

86 - The Rolling Stones - "Tumbling Dice" - Not sure I know this band. I believe Paul McCartney said they are a "blues cover band" and judging from this song I guess I see where he's coming from. This 1972 track is pretty good, I hope they found some sort of success in the years following.

85 - Prince - "Kiss" - There was a period of time in high school where I was listening to Prince incessantly, which is really weird because I in no way, shape, or form seemed like a Prince guy. I had ZERO game with the ladies, I didn't play guitar. I didn't do much of anything but be a fucking dork. But I was somewhat obsessed with this song (I still kind of am).

84 - Al Green - "Let's Stay Together" - Another classic tune that I only became aware of via the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. I love that soundtrack for turning me on to so many artists though. This song was my Al Green gateway drug.

83 - Bob Dylan - "Desolation Row" - This is the song that transported me from "Greatest Hits" Bob Dylan to his entire discography. I remember going over to my buddy's house up the street and he asked me if I'd ever heard this song. I was blown away. I immediately put away my worn out greatest hits compilation away and started listening to albums.

82 - Adele - "Rolling in the Deep" - Ironically the song that put Adele in the map is one of my *least* favorite Adele songs. Part of it is that it was so overplayed on the radio. The other part is that I heard the background vocal lyric "...never had met me" as "...never had bad feet." And now I can't unhear it, so this song will forever be about Adele bragging about not needing orthopedic shoes.

81 - The Velvet Underground - "I'm Waiting for the Man" - One of the joys of growing up in a CD era with no streaming music was that you really had to commit to an album after paying good money for it. These days I can listen to an album for 30 seconds, decide it's not worth my time, and never play it again. Back when I dropped $10-$12 on physical media, it was going to get a minimum number of listens before it was put back on the shelf. In some cases, this perseverance paid off. I picked up the Velvet Underground & Nico disc based on some article I read, and while it wasn't initially my style of music I wound up loving that album due to repeated listens. This became one of my favorite tracks.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:23 pm

80 - Ray Charles - "What'd I Say" - I think I got a new appreciation for Ray Charles when I went through the Rolling Stone Top 500 album challenge and had to listen to him in a way I had never done before. This song was in one of the more memorable moments in the movie Ray, which I also enjoyed.

79 - Amy Winehouse - "Back to Black" - When Amy Winehouse arrived on the scene, I was enamored. As a fan of old jazz vocalists, the mix of that style with modern lyrics and more than a hint of darkness was just a kick-ass combination. It really sucks she was so self-destructive.

78 - The Four Tops - "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" - Good song. I'm pretty sure I saw the Four Tops with at least one or two of the founding members many many years ago. My wife and I have always skewed towards older music, so when we were dating we'd always go see oldies groups when they came to town. Kind of funny as we'd usually be the only "kids" in the audience with a bunch of seniors. Didn't care, I love that music.

77 - The Modern Lovers - "Roadrunner" - I'd have been really surprised if you told me I wouldn't recognize a song in the Top 100, but I don't think I've ever heard this one. Rolling Stone points out this demo had band members that would go on to be in the Talking Heads and The Cars, which is super cool.

76 - Johnny Cash - "I Walk the Line" - Again not one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, even though it's probably his most famous next to "Ring of Fire" and "Man in Black." Just a little too slow and draggy for me.

75 - Pulp - "Common People" - Wasn't familiar with this one from the title, but recognized it once it got cranking. Feel like I probably heard it in a movie or television show rather than when it came out. I was never into this band.

74 - Leonard Cohen - "Hallelujah" - I think I probably first heard this song on a singing competition - probably American Idol. Again. And again. And again. I finally had to go track down the original version because I was like, "What is this freaking song that everybody is used to showcase their voice?" Of course it became a favorite after I really absorbed the lyrics. This is one of the rare cases, however, where I feel like a cover (Jeff Buckley's) conveys the sadness better than the original.

73 - Beyonce - "Formation" - Don't know this song, don't know Beyonce songs beside "Single Ladies." I feel like I live in some bizarro world where I'm the only person on earth who doesn't know her songs.

72 - The Beatles - "Yesterday" - One of my wife's good friends played this as the bride/groom dance at her wedding. Afterward my mom was like, "Umm...did you actually listen to the lyrics?" She was mortified. The marriage didn't last, so maybe it was an omen.

71 - Tracy Chapman - "Fast Car" - I absolutely love this song, it gets a lot of play. That said, it's absolutely heartbreaking. My wife interprets it a bit more positively than me, but I've always seen it as a pipe dream. That the subject of the song is really never going to get out of her situation, and that "fast car" might as well be a rocket ship to the moon.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:52 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:23 pm 71 - Tracy Chapman - "Fast Car" - I absolutely love this song, it gets a lot of play.

I hate this song, I change the station when it comes on.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 4:06 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:23 pm
77 - The Modern Lovers - "Roadrunner" - I'd have been really surprised if you told me I wouldn't recognize a song in the Top 100, but I don't think I've ever heard this one. Rolling Stone points out this demo had band members that would go on to be in the Talking Heads and The Cars, which is super cool.

That's funny, because I know this song because of you. Modern Lovers was in the top 500 albums you powered through a few years back, which was my introduction to the album, on which this is the first track.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:14 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:I hate this song, I change the station when it comes on.

Funnily enough, I used to be the same way back when it came out. I'm not sure when the pivot point came, but at some moment in the intervening years I went from hate to love.

Archinerd wrote:That's funny, because I know this song because of you. Modern Lovers was in the top 500 albums you powered through a few years back, which was my introduction to the album, on which this is the first track.

I see it made quite an impression on me.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:33 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:20 pm 90 - Aretha Franklin - "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - In one of the most unfortunate associations of a song to a brand I've ever experienced, I can't listen to this song without thinking of a douche commercial. I'm sorry, I can't. There it is, one of the best songs of all time, and I can't listen to it without thinking of feminine hygiene.

I can't hear the song without thinking the Black Crowes should have covered it during their hey day. The music style was totally their sound and I think Chris Robinson totally could have pulled it off.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 6:03 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:23 pm
75 - Pulp - "Common People" - Wasn't familiar with this one from the title, but recognized it once it got cranking. Feel like I probably heard it in a movie or television show rather than when it came out. I was never into this band.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Oct 18, 2021 6:32 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:33 pm
YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:20 pm 90 - Aretha Franklin - "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - In one of the most unfortunate associations of a song to a brand I've ever experienced, I can't listen to this song without thinking of a douche commercial. I'm sorry, I can't. There it is, one of the best songs of all time, and I can't listen to it without thinking of feminine hygiene.
I can't hear the song without thinking the Black Crowes should have covered it during their hey day. The music style was totally their sound and I think Chris Robinson totally could have pulled it off.

I always remember it from The Big Chill Soundtrack.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Oct 19, 2021 6:38 pm

70 - Elvis Presley - "Suspicious Minds" - Quite possibly my favorite Elvis song. Have you ever known a rabid Elvis fan? My stepdad's mom was one. It was pretty crazy - walking into her house was like walking into a shrine to some religious deity. And she was full tacky Elvis mode - black velvet paintings, Elvis shaped liquor decanters, etc. all over the house. I found it fascinating.

69 - Taylor Swift - "All Too Well" - After starting out as a Taylor Swift dismisser and sometimes hater, I changed my tune after my daughter got into her music. I'm not as familiar with her earlier stuff such as this track off Red, but I'm a big fan of everything from "1989" on.

68 - Chic - "Good Times" - This song reminds me of the skating rink I used to go as a kid. I'd spend hours there and we'd goof off to "disco skate" tracks like this. I remember the first time I actually realized I was getting old was when I went back to that skating rink in my 30s. I was out there, understandably a bit wobbly after 25 years, when an employee came up and kindly escorted me off the floor. He explained I'd have to wait until they allowed a "beginner's skate" round. I was so crushed I took the skates off and never went back on the floor. The story does have a happy ending - a few months before the rink closed for good, I went back for a birthday party for one of my daughter's friends and had around 4 hours to skate without the public. I got back into the hang of it and proved to myself that I still had it. RIP Sunset Park Skating Rink.

67 - Bob Dylan - "Tangled Up in Blue" - Quite possibly my favorite Bob Dylan song. I have a good friend and co-worker who is a huge Dylan fan, and he'd use this phrase a lot when he was busy. "How you doing today Grant?" "Oh you know, tangled up in blue." Great, great song.

66 - Simon and Garfunkel - "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - As beautifully as Art Garfunkel sings, I've always been more partial to Simon's less theatrical vocals. So this isn't necessarily one of my favorite S&G songs. I do love that crazy over-the-top echo-y almost gunshot drum effect though.

65 - Earth, Wind, and Fire - "September" - Ah, another skating rink staple. I've always loved this one, probably from those skating rink days. It never fails to bring a smile to my face. Nothing but good memories with this one.

64 - Ramones - "Blitzkrieg Bop" - I seem to remember this as one of those Rock Band songs we used to play all the time. Lots of fun trying to sing this one unintelligibly like the Ramones while actually knowing the lyrics.

63 - Dolly Parton - "Jolene" - I'm a huge Dolly Parton fan, dating back from being a kid and watching her on TV. My mom was a big Kenny Rogers fan, and Dolly and Kenny collaborated on things like "Islands in the Stream" so I was always aware of her from that, "9 to 5" etc. I love this song because it's not the typical "jealous woman getting revenge" song - it's a plea for mercy. It's such an unusual perspective for a song.

62 - U2 - "One" - This is my favorite U2 song, period. It was all downhill from here.

61 - Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven" - No surprise at all that this is on the list. It's clearly one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and a rite of passage for guitar players everywhere (just don't play it IN the guitar store!). When I was in my Led Zeppelin phase I used to be quite obsessed with this song, the lyrics, etc. I went way down the rabbit hole with all the theories, and had a huge poster of it on my wall. I even went so far as to buy an entire album of nothing but covers of this song.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:20 am

60 - Kate Bush - "Running Up That Hill" - Wasn't familiar at all with this song, or this artist. Sound kind of reminds me of a female version of Peter Gabriel.

59 - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - "The Message" - Oh man, what a classic. This one just made me laugh as soon as it started because I remember trying to breakdance to this as a kid. Oh my God I was such a dork. Don't push me cause I'm close...to...the...edge.

58 - The Band - "The Weight" - I had a cat named Fanny that we rescued from a neighbor who was going to put her to sleep because she had diabetes. We took on the cost of giving her insulin and she lived with us happily for several years until she died at age 17. Fanny was a curmudgeonly grump on the outside but a sweetheart on the inside, and I loved her to pieces. This song always reminds me of her because when she'd come into my office I'd say "Take a load off Fanny." I saw Train do a terrific cover of this in concert last month.

57 - Sly and the Family Stone - "Family Affair" - Super chill song, which I like. My biggest exposure to Sly and the Family Stone was with the Top 500 Albums challenge, never listened to them much outside of that.

56 - Missy Elliott - "Work It" - I think I first heard this song on a dance competition show, so I didn't catch the intro where Missy E announces herself. All I caught was that crazy backwards lyric in the chorus, and I was somewhat obsessed with finding out what this song was. Should have known it was Missy Elliott - she's one of a kind, always sounding a decade ahead of her time.

55 - Madonna - "Like a Prayer" - It's funny thinking about how controversial this music video was, when nobody would bat an eye these days. Madonna cavorting with a BLACK MAN in a CHURCH. <Clutches pearls and faints> I can remember even at the age of 15 not understanding what the big deal was, and at that age I was still being forced to go to church every Sunday. I haven't really heard this song in awhile, but listening back to it for this challenge it's a great track. When the song really lets loose at the 2:20 mark you feel like Madonna is taking you to church. And it just keeps ramping up from there.

54 - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - "The Tracks of My Tears" - Damn Smokey can make some great songs about crying, can't he? Another one of my all-time favorite oldies.

53 - The Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations" - I first heard this song on a Sunkist commercial, but I first *listened* to this song while sitting in my granddad's diner eating a burger and fries. It was a summer day and I remember just being enthralled by it. Having only known it from the commercial (which was a bastardized version anyway), the full version absolutely floored me. You know a song made an impression when you can remember the exact moment and place where you first really listened to it. It's an amazing piece of work.

52 - Donna Summer - "I Feel Love" - I make it a point to listen to all these songs at full volume, and this one really kicks. I recognized it immediately, but couldn't really tell you from where. Possibly a remix or edit, as this is a nearly six-minute song. Can't imagine it ever got a ton of radio play at its original length.

51 - Dionne Warwick - "Walk on By" - I love Dionne Warwick's particular brand of cheesiness, I don't know why. Her songs always sound so lavishly overproduced, but there's a certain charm to it.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:52 am

YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:20 am 60 - Kate Bush - "Running Up That Hill" - Wasn't familiar at all with this song, or this artist. Sound kind of reminds me of a female version of Peter Gabriel.

Spoiler:

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:01 am

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Isgrimnur wrote:I hate this song, I change the station when it comes on.
Funnily enough, I used to be the same way back when it came out. I'm not sure when the pivot point came, but at some moment in the intervening years I went from hate to love.

Archinerd wrote:That's funny, because I know this song because of you. Modern Lovers was in the top 500 albums you powered through a few years back, which was my introduction to the album, on which this is the first track.
I see it made quite an impression on me.

Roadrunner was on the Rock and Roll High School soundtrack album, which I'm old enough to have purchased back in <sighs for effect> 1979 when it came out. They were like a Jewish version of the Doors that hired Lou Reed to write their songs. Hospital is probably my favorite of theirs.

It also had Nick Lowe, which started my lifelong love of his work.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:03 pm

50 - Daddy Yankee - "Gasolina" - Had never heard anything from this Puerto Rican rapper, but this is a great track. Not sure it's Top 50 songs of ALL TIME great, but I've already beaten that horse to death so I'll just move on.

49 - Lauryn Hill - "Doo Wop (That Thing)" - Already talked about my love of Lauryn Hill and the Fugees. This album got sooo much play at my house.

48 - Radiohead - "Idioteque" - I actually didn't like Kid A all that much when I first bought it. I was expecting something more in line with OK Computer, and Kid A went a tad step further into the weirdness. I listened to it a few times and then just kind of set it aside. It wasn't until I was watching "Vanilla Sky" with a college buddy of mine that I realized how utterly genius "Everything In Its Right Place" was. I revisited the album after that and absolutely loved it.

47 - Elton John - "Tiny Dancer" - Raise your hand if you loved this song before its appearance in "Almost Famous" <raises hand>. And yes, I'll only sing the lyrics as "Hold me closer, Tony Danza."

46 - M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" - I'll always associate this song with the job previous to my current position, as it was about a 40-minute commute one way. I listened to a LOT of music during that time, as this was well before I got into podcasts or audiobooks. I remember blasting this song driving back home the summer it came out. In a way it kind of signified the end of that era - the following year I'd get my current job and that 40-minute commute turned into a 5-minute one. That would also be the year my daughter would be born, and gone were those carefree days of playing whatever I wanted in the car.

45 - Kendrick Lamar - "Alright" - Never heard this one. It's OK, not really my thing.

44 - Michael Jackson - "Billie Jean" - What kid in 1982 didn't want to be Michael Jackson dancing on that light up sidewalk? I always laugh at this song because my buddy Dan used to blast it and point out the part where MJ sings, "His eyes were like mine." and the background vocal goes, "Oh noooo......" Dan used to think that was the funniest thing ever.

43 - The Temptations - "My Girl" - Loved this song right up to the point it became the inspiration for a movie in which Macaulay Culkin gets stung to death by bees.

42 - Bob Marley and the Wailers - "Redemption Song" - Yet another track off Legend. This one notable to me only because it was probably the first song on guitar where I progressed beyond strumming chords to actually playing the intro fingerstyle.

41 - Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Again, not a band I listened to much so don't have a lot to say about this one. I do like it though, particularly with my recent love of The Smiths, Depeche Mode, etc.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:48 pm

40 - Jimi Hendrix - "All Along the Watchtower" - A cover so good Bob Dylan copied it for subsequent performances. I've talked about my Jimi Hendrix phase so I won't go into it again, but this song got a LOT of play back then. I love the "chicka-chicka-chicka" guitar at the 2:20 mark.

39 - Outkast - "B.O.B." - I already talked about how much I listened to this album. This song is utterly relentless, and a great example of the best of Outkast. It's just pure insanity distilled into 5 minutes.

38 - Otis Redding - "(Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay)" - I've never been able to listen to this song in quite the same way after running across a YouTube video of Ricky Gervais, Louis C.K, Chris Rock, and Jerry Seinfeld discussing it in relation to a horribly offensive joke. Look it up at your own risk, though it is the hardest I've ever seen Ricky Gervais laugh.

37 - Prince and the Revolution - "When Doves Cry" - I always liked this song, but it wasn't until several years ago that I read about it not having a bass line because Prince just decided to remove it. And then I was like, "Holy shit, you're right. No bass!" It kind of made me love the song even more. Most people only know the much shorter radio version, but the full version packs in a ton of craziness long after the radio version ends.

36 - The White Stripes - "Seven Nation Army" - Another one of those tracks that I'll always associate with my old job. I was listening to The White Stripes a lot back in 2003. I remember sitting in the car in the parking lot of my office listening to this and thinking "Damn, this is a good song!" I actually thought it was a cover for some reason (probably misread a music article), but that's a testament to how brilliant that riff is. It was hard to believe it had not existed before.

35 - Little Richard - "Tutti-Frutti" - As a fan of the Rob Zombie flick "House of 1000 Corpses" I can't think of this song without picturing Sid Haig saying, "Tutti-fuckin-Frutti." Apparently it had very dirty lyrics originally, which makes it moderately more interesting. (Note to Rolling Stone, again go fuck yourself. There's no way this is the 35th best song of all time).

34 - James Brown - "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" - Maybe the quintessential James Brown song. Another one I probably first sat up and took notice of from a movie soundtrack. I do really like this one.

33 - Chuck Berry - "Johnny B. Goode" - I'm sure I heard this on the radio at some point growing up, but I probably only REALLY heard it from Michael J. Fox's scene in "Back to the Future."

32 - Notorious B.I.G. - "Juicy" - This is the song that but Biggie on the map. I was in a way different direction musically back in 1994 though, so I didn't really hear this one until many years later.

31 - The Rolling Stones - "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - Another song somewhat ruined by my fascination with 1980s movies. I can't listen to it without seeing Jeff Bridges in "Starman" going "I can't get no.....Sat-is-fac-tion!" in his alien voice. Starman is awesome.

Exodor · Post by **Exodor** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:09 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 6:38 pm 69 - Taylor Swift - "All Too Well" - After starting out as a Taylor Swift dismisser and sometimes hater, I changed my tune after my daughter got into her music. I'm not as familiar with her earlier stuff such as this track off Red, but I'm a big fan of everything from "1989" on.

I kind of tuned Taylor out after 1989 - I'm not a big fan of her super poppy stuff that sounds like white-girl Nikki Minaj - but folklore and evermore brought be back into the fold.

More of that and less crap please, Taylor.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:04 pm

Exodor wrote:
YellowKing wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 6:38 pm 69 - Taylor Swift - "All Too Well" - After starting out as a Taylor Swift dismisser and sometimes hater, I changed my tune after my daughter got into her music. I'm not as familiar with her earlier stuff such as this track off Red, but I'm a big fan of everything from "1989" on.

I kind of tuned Taylor out after 1989 - I'm not a big fan of her super poppy stuff that sounds like white-girl Nikki Minaj - but folklore and evermore brought be back into the fold.

More of that and less crap please, Taylor.

Yeah, I bitched a LOT about Reputation in the Taylor Swift thread at the time. Thankfully she didn't stay on that track.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:25 pm

My Favorite version of (I can't get no) Satisfaction is from Devo. But I won't turn off the Stones version when it's played.

Holy crap, you're in the top 40 already? This song might, just might, make my personal top 40...none of the others would.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:14 pm

30 - Lorde - "Royals" - I remember when I first heard this song and I was pretty blown away by how different it sounded from most other songs on the radio. Hard to believe Lorde wrote this at age 15. It's kind of a damning indictment of wealth obsession, which is a pretty crazy insight to come up with at that young age.

29 - Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg - "'Nuthin but a 'G' Thang" - My brother and I wore this album out back in 1992. There used to be this busboy that worked at our local Cracker Barrel that looked just like Snoop Dogg, and I had this whole parody to this song made up from the point of view of that guy bussing tables.

28 - Talking Heads - "Once in a Lifetime" - I absolutely love this song. I first saw it on MTV (as I mentioned earlier, it was one of the songs that got me into the Talking Heads. I really think about this song a lot, and I think about it more and more the older I get - "How did I get here?" I'm extremely grateful for everything I have - my wife, my house. But sometimes I don't understand how I got it and whether I really deserve it.

27 - Bruce Springsteen - "Born to Run" - I've talked about my love/hate relationship with Bruce Springsteen. This song kind of falls into that middle gray area for me, as it's from his classic period which I tend to really like, but also is a bit more uptempo and rock-oriented which I tend to not like as much. Overall this one makes the cut - I'll throw this one on a 60%-65% "like" scale, if only because of the "strap your hands across my engines" line.

26 - Joni Mitchell - "A Case of You" - I love Joni Mitchell, and this is another one of my favorites off of "Blue." I love the free-flowing, almost train-of-thought lyrics. That's incredibly difficult to do in a song, set it to a melody, and have it actually work in any way.

25 - Kanye West featuring Pusha T - "Runaway" - As if Kanye needed anything else to feed his ego, let's name one if his songs one of the top 25 of all time. Ugh. I swear I think at some point Rolling Stone just picked the longest songs they could find and threw them on this list.

24 - The Beatles - "A Day in the Life" - When I finally got to Sgt. Pepper in my exploration of The Beatles back catalog, I was mildly obsessed with this song. I went into quite a bit of research on the lyrics, how it was created, etc. I love how it's the perfect combo of Lennon and McCartney mashed together in one song - each instantly recognizable but both adding up to greater than the sum of their parts. And that weird ending phrase at the very end used to creep me out.

23 - David Bowie - "Heroes" - Is it possible for an original song to be ruined by a cover that is generally regarded as being pretty damn good? In my case, that answer is yes. I really hated The Wallflowers' cover of this for the 1998 version of GODZILLA, maybe in the same way I hated the movie. And I actually like The Wallflowers! I've never cared for this song since then, even when Bowie sings it.

22 - The Ronettes - "Be My Baby" - Love The Ronettes, love this song. Apparently a young Cher sung backup vocals on this. WTF!

21 - Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit" - When I first discovered the meaning of this song and listened to the lyrics I was truly horrified. I think this is one of the scariest songs ever recorded.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:33 pm

Lorde - top 30? Really? I like that song, but at 400 or so.

Born to Run - I like the epic Springsteen songs and this is the best of them.

Heroes - I can't name a favorite Bowie song, but this would be in the conversation if there was a gun to my head. I also like the Philip Glass interpretation of this song/album.

Once in a Lifetime - I'd be surprised if this is the highest ranking Talking Heads song on the list. Remain in Light was an eclectic album to be sure, my vinyl copy came in a plastic case and was printed on a holographic disk. I've seen all of the Talking Heads before, but not as The Talking Heads. I saw David Byrne doing his Forest classical album with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I saw Tina and Chris as Tom Tom Club. I saw Jerry Hairston on his solo album (first one, in case he actually hdid more).

The Ronettes - fun fact, on Eddy Money's hit song, "Take Me Home Tonight", the line "Just like Ronnie said..."be my little baby"" was sung by Ronnie Spector but uncredited.

Exodor · Post by **Exodor** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:34 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:14 pm 30 - Lorde - "Royals" - I remember when I first heard this song and I was pretty blown away by how different it sounded from most other songs on the radio. Hard to believe Lorde wrote this at age 15. It's kind of a damning indictment of wealth obsession, which is a pretty crazy insight to come up with at that young age.

Inspired by a random photo she saw of George Brett.

"I'd been kind of thinking about writing that song for a while and been pulling together a couple little lines here and there, and I had this image from the National Geographic of this dude signing baseballs," Lorde said. "He was a baseball player and his shirt said Royals. I was like, I really like that word, because I'm a big word fetishist. I'll pick a word and I'll pin an idea to that."

Sure, the Yankees have Mrs. Robinson and a million other song references. Let me have my moment.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:36 pm

Exodor wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:34 pm Sure, the Yankees have Mrs. Robinson and a million other song references. Let me have my moment.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:21 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:14 pm 21 - Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit" - When I first discovered the meaning of this song and listened to the lyrics I was truly horrified. I think this is one of the scariest songs ever recorded.

It is indeed a powerful song. GOAT lists usually suffer from recency bias, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see Billie rank so high.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:18 pm

Any list without Regulate by Warren G featuring Nate Dogg isn't worth the pixels it's printed with.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:08 am

Jeff V wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:25 pm
Holy crap, you're in the top 40 already? This song might, just might, make my personal top 40...none of the others would.

Yeah, I can't wrap my head around many of these songs being in the top 500. /shrug

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 8:12 am

20 - Robyn - "Dancing on My Own" - Sure, Rolling Stone, this is one of the top 20 songs of all time. A fucking Robyn club track. Get the fuck out of here. Sorry, I promised to stop bitching about this list but come on. At some point you're just putting stupid shit on here to drive controversy and get clicks. Apologies to any die-hard Robyn fans out there. Someone out there please tell me I'm wrong.

19 - John Lennon - "Imagine" - After my Beatles discography run was over, I started diving into the individual members' solo stuff. Lennon was the first one I tackled, and I stayed in that world a long time. I listened to a LOT of John Lennon solo stuff, with this album constituting a ton of that listening time.

18 - Prince and the Revolution - "Purple Rain" - I'm OK with Prince songs being this high on the list, even if this isn't necessarily one of my favorites (just a bit too long and slow for my tastes). Rolling Stone says that this was Prince's answer to Bob Seger's "Night Moves" (after sharing arenas with him while on tour) which is pretty fascinating.

17 - Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" - While the Wayne's World movie essentially doomed this song to another two decades of being overplayed, there's no denying it belongs on the list. It's Freddie Mercury at his most theatrical, most ridiculous, and most genius.

16 - Beyonce featuring Jay-Z - "Crazy in Love" - Oh look, the only other Beyonce song besides "Single Ladies" that I can name. To be fair, I really liked this song when it came out in 2003, and was really impressed by Beyonce's solo debut. Not impressed enough to ever follow anything she ever did afterwards, apparently, but hey it was something.

15 - The Beatles - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - I have to believe this song's inclusion this high is more as a representation of Beatlemania as a whole, since it's really just a silly pop song (albeit a very good one). We got to learn the German version of this in German class, which was actually recorded by The Beatles. They also did a German language version of "She Loves You." To this day I'll still sometimes sing the German chorus ("komm gib mir deine Hand") because it got so ingrained in me.

14 - The Kinks - "Waterloo Sunset" - This is one of those songs I did not know until I did the Top 500 Albums list and discovered the greatness that is The Kinks. Tracks like this really endeared me to this band I somehow missed out on all these years.

13 - The Rolling Stones - "Gimme Shelter" - Another Guitar Hero/Rock Band staple, but let's face it - this song belongs to Merry Clayton. To my ears one of the greatest rock background vocals of all time, perhaps only rivaled by Clare Torry's contribution to Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky."

12 - Stevie Wonder - "Superstition" - I talked about my Stevie Wonder stage. After reading about his perfectionism in production I can't listen to a track like this without hearing all the stuff going on in the background. It's truly amazing stuff.

11 - The Beach Boys - "God Only Knows" - Ahhh here it is, my favorite Beach Boys tune of all time (or did I say that about "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" - I always flip back and forth between these two). Well maybe I have two favorites.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:42 am

10 - Outkast - "Hey Ya!" - Ugh. You guys know I love Outkast, and this is a great song. But top 10? Really? Way overplayed. Great video though.

9 - Fleetwood Mac - "Dreams" - In no relation to the dude riding a skateboard drinking cranberry juice, I love this song. It's always been one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac tracks.

8 - Missy Elliott - "Get Ur Freak On" - Easily the Missy E song I'm the most familiar with - whether it's the best or not I really couldn't say.

7 - The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" - Being an introvert in high school (hell, I still am), this song really spoke to me. Particularly the line "No one I think is in my tree." That really nailed what I felt back then - I just didn't fit in with any group.

6 - Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On" - I'm having a hard time tracking it down, but I feel like I first heard this song in a cover before I discovered the original. It's a great song with a great message though, I don't really have any problem with it being in the top 10.

5 - Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - This album..and this song...really defined my high school experience. I remember people arguing over Soundgarden and Pearl Jam and other grunge bands of the day, but nobody argued over Nirvana. I didn't know anyone who didn't love them or this album. It absolutely belongs on this list - it really was that sea change in music that I'm really happy I got to experience in real time at the right age to appreciate it.

4 - Bob Dylan - "Like a Rolling Stone" - Of all the songs on Bob Dylan's classic greatest hits album, this song was by far the song I listened to the most. It's one of those songs that makes you appreciate what you have, and reminds you that you're always only a couple of bad turns away from being out on the streets.

3 - Sam Cooke - "A Change Is Gonna Come" - I really like Sam Cooke's stuff, and this is obviously one of his greatest works and a civil rights anthem. I understand where Rolling Stone is coming from with some of these selections, but it's from a different angle than me. They're looking at the historical or political import - I'm just looking at whether the song is actually good to listen to. This is a great track, it's an important track. It's not something I'd ever listen to for entertainment though.

2 - Public Enemy - "Fight the Power" - Unfortunately this song reminds me of that old show "Life Goes On" which starred Chris Burke as a kid with Down Syndrome named Corky. Corky does a lip-sync/dance routine to this song. So when I hear this all I see in my mind is this Down Syndrome kid in a leather outfit. And this is why my brain can't have nice things. (All due respect to Chris Burke, it really was a fantastic show and the first time I ever remember seeing an actor with Down Syndrome on network television).

1 - Aretha Franklin - "Respect" - So here it is, the number one song of all time. There's no song you could put here and have everyone agree. There are a thousand songs you could put here and make a convincing argument. So I won't fight it. It's a great song and Aretha doing her thing at her best.

There you have it, 500 songs with my silly random thoughts for each one. Hope you all enjoyed it. I have a lot of problems with lists like this, but hey if it gets people talking about music or exposed to new music, it's a good thing overall.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:44 am

I am surprised at Respect being at the top of the list.

I thought for sure that Biz Markie's "Just a Friend" would make number 1.