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Post by frag on Mar 20, 2006 18:44:29 GMT -5
Any list of albums is going to be infinitely easier to compile than a list of songs.
Especially this one in particular. I'm finishing up my revised list right now, so I should have it up in a few minutes.
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Post by frag on Mar 22, 2006 5:13:40 GMT -5
Okay, here's my new list. Changed some...and added some of my reasons for the top five. I re-ordered quite a bit because I went by a new standard of how influential the song was for me personally coupled with its importance in music history. (all based on my opinion of course) I'll never be satisfied with this list. Ah, well. Good enough for me.
1. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
-Perhaps the greatest song ever written. Simply put, it exudes the power and the passion that rock and roll is meant to. One of a select few tracks earning title track status, you can feel the sweat just pouring from this song. Lyrically, you can't find a song that better encompasses the feelings that it intends to evoke. Powerful...that's the best word here. Powerful. Musically, I will undoubtedly stand by Born to Run as the finest performance by a great back-up band and its phenomenal leader. This is what music is supposed to be. It is honest, it is brutal, and in the end it is very very beautiful. And that breakdown? God, it doesn't get any better than that.
2. Cut Your Hair - Pavement
-Certainly not their best song, by any means, but Pavement is my favorite band...as such, it wouldn't be fitting of me to not have them in the top five on any list. Cut Your Hair is the obvious single because it single-handedly showed the band's re-positioning. Also, it caught their humor and sarcasm full force while being undeniably catchy.
3. Radio Radio - Elvis Costello
-Radio Radio follows suit with Born to Run, as it's an example of what rock and roll is supposed to be. If this song doesn't make you want to change the world, nothing will.
4. Paperback Writer - The Beatles
-Ah, I won't bother. We all know where the Beatles belong. Any of their singles could just as easily have fit in this spot, but I chose this because it's always reverberated with me. Most importantly, this song is the perfect example of their transition into well...yeah, we all know.
5. Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
-It's got to be impossible not to love this. You can visualize and feel everything about this song. From the waves crashing in the intro to the faded whistling outro. Whatever the intentions, that's about as perfect a sonic sandwich as you can get. Raw and beautiful.
6. Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads
7. Love Reign O'er Me - The Who
8. Who Loves the Sun - Velvet Underground
9. Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
10. Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
11. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
12. There is a Light that Never Goes Out - The Smiths
13. Paint it Black - Rolling Stones
14. Immortality - Pearl Jam
15. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
16. London Calling - The Clash
17. Roxanne - The Police
18. Epic - Faith No More
19. Space Oddity - David Bowie
20. Here Comes Your Man - The Pixies
21. Street Spirit (fade out) - Radiohead
22. Nights in White Satin - The Moody Blues
23. I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses
24. Instant Karma! - John Lennon
25. Southern Central Rain (I'm Sorry) - REM
26. Lightnin' Strikes - Lou Christie
27. Trick of the Tail - Genesis
28. The Weight - The Band
29. Bus Stop - The Hollies
30. Every Day is Like Sunday - Morrissey
31. Crimson and Clover - Tommy James
32. Lola - The Kinks
33. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
34. In the Ghetto - Elvis
35. She's Not There - The Zombies
36. 21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson
37. Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison
38. Dear God - XTC
39. Pretty in Pink - The Psychedelic Furs
40. Refugee - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
41. Kill the Poor - Dead Kennedys
42. All Apologies - Nirvana
43. Heart of Gold - Neil Young
44. All Around the World - The Jam
45. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
46. Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
47. Runaway - Del Shannon
48. Dark Entries - Bauhaus
49. Pictures of You - The Cure
50. Whiter Shade of Pale - Procul Harem
Last change...I swear
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Post by frag on Mar 22, 2006 5:16:01 GMT -5
My old list...just to be sure I don't get counted twice  |
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Post by RocDoc on Mar 22, 2006 17:03:02 GMT -5
Ya got Del Shannon in there, good.
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Post by Galactus on Mar 22, 2006 17:21:03 GMT -5
Checked mine again...I'm still not 100% on it but I still can't find anything I'd change either so it's firm.
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Post by Paul on Mar 23, 2006 8:58:09 GMT -5
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Post by Kensterberg on Mar 23, 2006 9:00:45 GMT -5
I believe that we'd established earlier that Who Loves the Sun (and maybe one other track) was the official single from Loaded. While Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll ultimately got FM airplay, they were album cuts rather than singles.
Which is one reason why I said that the VU weren't going to win this particular poll ...
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Post by Paul on Mar 23, 2006 9:25:11 GMT -5
I still haven't figured out my list; I've been part lazy, and pary indecisive.....
I am going to have multiple artist though; no way I can choose just one Beatles and Kinks songs...(each band has at least 3, if not more IMHO). I'm flying to California today, maybe I'll do some work on the plane...
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Post by phil on Mar 23, 2006 9:34:56 GMT -5
00 - I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul & Mary ... !!
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Post by Kensterberg on Mar 23, 2006 10:11:59 GMT -5
Saturday is the deadline for this -- don't forget! Melon has his calculator all revved up and ready to total this baby and settle this debate once and for all ... at least until another discussion breaks out.
Paul - You can have as many singles by a given artist as you want. If you think that Prince released the top ten singles of all time, then 1-10 can be all Prince. If you think the Stones released the best fifty singles in rock, then feel free to list off fifty Stones tunes. (Doc Drum did this on the best album list with Rush. He had the fifteen (I think) best albums in all of rock and roll being the entire Rush catalog (more or less). Absolutely hilarious).
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Post by Paul on Mar 23, 2006 10:49:40 GMT -5
Can I request a late submission? I'm in Cali for the next 4 days, and I'm not touching a computer while I'm there...
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Post by Kensterberg on Mar 23, 2006 10:55:21 GMT -5
OK, I'm tired of f*cking around with this list ... still not happy with it, but it's as good as it's gonna get ... the list, along with a few comments ...
The Fifty Greatest Rock and Roll Singles of All Time:
1. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Born to Run. Everything Frag said about this song is true.
2. Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone. Ground-breaking barely begins to describe this. Rock and roll as we know it is simply unimaginable w/o this single.
3. The Beatles, Hey Jude b/w Revolution. Ying and Yang. Paul and John. Greater than the (considerable) sum of its parts.
4. The Clash, White Man in Hammersmith Palais. There's no chorus ... until you realize that the whole song is the chorus. Brilliant.
5. The Sex Pistols, God Save the Queen. Probably the most important single of the rock era aside from the first Elvis cuts two decades before. And it still cuts deep today. So good it almost makes me forget what a joke the band became in the last two decades.
6. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Refugee. Everything Frag said about Born to Run applies to this as well. And it sounds simply amazing.
7. U2, With or Without You. This sounded so different from anything else on the radio in '87, and it still sounds singular today. One of Bono's finest vocals, and Edge's restrained guitar work is simply sublime.
8. The Who, I Can See For Miles. The most powerful Who single, a production marvel of paranoia and arrogance. And Townshend's guitar work is both subtle and overwhelming.
9. The Band, The Weight b/w I Shall Be Released. Talk about your double A-sides! I don't know just how big a hit this was at the time, but looking back at it, this is a monster.
10. Jerry Lee Lewis, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. The greatest rock and roll of the fifties. The Killer lives up to his name.
11. Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit. The song that killed a thousand hair bands ... still sounds like an alarm clock going off when you hear it amidst the crap on the radio today. Still missing Kurt ...
12. Del Shannon, Runaway. That aching vocal, that ridiculous little organ solo, and that refrain ... 'I'm a-walkin' in the rain, tears are fallin' and I'm feelin' pain' ... sheer perfection.
13. The Rolling Stones, Jumping Jack Flash. The best Stones single, over some serious competition.
14. Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, Wooly Bully. This is the highlight of the entire (marvelous) Nuggets box set. Blows Louie Louie right off the turntable.
15. David Bowie, “Heroes.”
16. The Jam, Going Underground b/w Dreams of Children.
17. The Cure, Just Like Heaven.
18. The Clash, Complete Control.
19. Elvis Presley, Suspicious Minds.
20. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Radio Radio.
21. U2, Pride (in the name of love).
22. Jefferson Airplane, Somebody to Love.
23. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fortunate Son.
24. The Who, Substitute.
25. The Beatles, Paperback Writer b/w Rain
26. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Proud Mary.
27. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, What’s So Funny ‘bout Peace, Love and Understanding?
28. Buddy Holly, Rave On.
29. The Jam, Beat Surrender.
30. Little Richard, Tutti Fruti.
31. R.E.M., Man on the Moon.
32. Pete Townshend, Let My Love Open the Door.
33. Housemartins, Happy Hour.
34. Queen with David Bowie, Under Pressure.
35. The Cure, In Between Days.
36. Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Blank Generation.
37. The Ramones, Sheena is a Punk Rocker.
38. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lodi.
39. Don Henley, The Boys of Summer.
40. The Buzzcocks, Ever Fallen in Love.
41. Split Enz, I Got You.
42. The Kinks, Waterloo Sunset.
43. Don Henley, Dirty Laundry.
44. Crowded House, Don’t Dream It’s Over.
45. Ringo Starr, Photograph.
46. John Lennon, Instant Karma.
47. Midnight Oil, Beds Are Burning.
48. Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart (again).
49. The Police, Every Breath You Take.
50. Concrete Blonde, Joey.
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Post by Paul on Mar 23, 2006 11:05:02 GMT -5
Nice list, could use another Kinks song *coughs* 'Lola', but not bad....and a few interesting /odd picks as well....i.e. Ringo Starr, Del Shannon, Richard Hell....nice choices, I don't imagine many will have those on their list.
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Post by Kensterberg on Mar 23, 2006 11:15:31 GMT -5
I thought about Lola, and either You Really Got Me, or All of the Day and All of the Night. But ultimately, I decided that this was MY list and I wanted to get in more of the songs that meant something to me, as well as having (at least sometimes) historic impact. Since Waterloo Sunset is my favorite classic Kinks song, that's the one that made the cut.
Runaway to me just defines the essence of great adolescent-themed rock and roll. It's deceptively simple in construction, but absolutely perfectly executed, and Shannon's vocals just palpably ache. I really regret that I didn't find room for Runaround Sue by Dion (and the Belmonts, I think), which is a great track for many of the same reasons. I've long thought that these sorts of cuts represent such a fundemental slice of what rock and roll is that kids should get a cd (or box set) of these songs when they turn fifteen or so for the sake of cultural literacy.
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Post by Kensterberg on Mar 23, 2006 11:17:17 GMT -5
Can I request a late submission? I'm in Cali for the next 4 days, and I'm not touching a computer while I'm there... OK Paul, just for you ... Melon can add your list into the final score once you get back. But if there's any way you can get it posted before you go, that would be really appreciated (in part b/c I want to post a much shorter poll, but I'm not going to do that until this is done). |
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