Music Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of all time

Sir Matt

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Firstly, it should be named "500 English speaking songs from the last 60 years". Secondly, these lists are completely garbage.
:nono: "Gasolina" clocks in at #50. Also, there's a Robert Johnson song, and he died in 1938.
 

Sir Matt

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Seven Nation Army being in the top 50, or even top 500, is appalling.

I think the list deals better with older indie/alternative artists than it does with more recent artists. They made a big effort to include pop and hip hop artists from the last two decades but largely ignored anything else. One song from LCD Sound System, one from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, one from the Strokes, and one from Wilco, but they have Fall Out Boy in the list? :houllier:
 
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I think thats the only thing I would probably agree with them. For me it's always between Eleanor Rigby, A day in the life and strawberry fields, yet I think I prefer strawberry fields.
The thing is you could ask 1,000 Beatles fans and probably get lots of different favourites due to the sheer quality and depth of the songs they wrote? How’d you choose between ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘A day in the life’, ‘Yesterday’, ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Strawberry Fields’, ‘Let it be’. (I could listen to ‘Golden Slumbers’ on a loop but most people wouldn’t put it in their top.20)

And for a certain generation, it’s different again - my Dad (who saw them/talked to them at the very beginning) still thinks songs like ‘all my loving’, ‘I saw her standing there’, ‘I want to hold her hand’ and ‘can’t buy me love’ are better than the ones (above) that most have as top.

You hear songs like ‘Nowhere man’, ‘Fool on the hill‘, ‘She’s leaving home’, ‘and I love her’, ‘Paperback writer’, ‘Day tripper’, ‘Got to get her into my life’ and think “they’re good”. Then you realise they don’t hit the top 10, the top 20 and maybe not the top 30 Beatles songs! Scarily good.
 

Sir Matt

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How so? It's an excellent song, and so iconic.
Complaining about it being on the list was over the top, but it's just a fine but, by now, boring song. I get that it's mostly a list of most popular songs, rather than greatest, but "Seven Nation Army" isn't a top 100 song of all time. It's just ubiquitous and now tedious for me.
 

sullydnl

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Nobody approaches these lists thinking they will actually be definitive, so they're always more interesting coming from either an individual (who has their own personal taste and selections they feel passionate about) or an outlet with a strong editorial voice (whose lists therefore come with a specific slant that makes them interesting).

The lack of a real institutional voice at Rolling Stone is telling. It reads like a list that was focus-grouped together to be as bland and approachable to mainstream readers as possible, carefully combining classic songs that "have" to be on the list because they're the kind of songs that always appear on these lists with (bad) modern selections with an emphasis on (bad) commercial pop.

Which in a way does accurately reflect Rolling Stone, whose lack of any real identity saw them overtaken as a touchstone for actual music fans a long time ago by outlets like Pitchfork (which itself is journeying down a similar path). Insofar as I associate Rolling Stone with anything music related these days it is for dull lists like this. Like the grammy's, I don't think I've ever actually met a hardcore music fan who gives their opinion any weight.

Bah humbug, says I.
 

Dr. Dwayne

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Hungry Like the Wolf, Welshy. Hard to disagree. A song about eating hot sweaty pussy is peak D2.

I don't actually have too many issues with the list. I know almost all of the songs. I might disagree with the choices for some artists but it's subjective.

What I don't like is that there are too many repeat artists who don't deserve multiple entries.

Finally, Rolling Stone rating The Stroke's Last Night higher than the song they lifted when they wrote it; Tom Petty's American Girl, is offensive to me.
 

TMDaines

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No effort whatsoever to pretend there is any music made outside of Britain, Ireland, the US and the wider anglosphere. It’s incredibly insular.
 

Dan

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48 - Radiohead, 'Idioteque'

I love Radiohead but wouldn’t put it in my top 20 of Radiohead only tracks.
 

Ivor Ballokov

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Missy Elliot in the top ten :lol:.

It's nice that they've an attempt to move away from just listing middle of the road dad rock but seriously, Missy Elliot :lol: .
 

groovyalbert

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These lists are so pointless. But then again, I did just scroll through it. Touche Rolling Stone.
 

NasirTimothy

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Complaining about it being on the list was over the top, but it's just a fine but, by now, boring song. I get that it's mostly a list of most popular songs, rather than greatest, but "Seven Nation Army" isn't a top 100 song of all time. It's just ubiquitous and now tedious for me.
It’s a great song
 

NasirTimothy

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Bohemian Rhapsody being out done by Get Your Freak On (amongst others) :nono:
Put Bohemian Rhapsody on at the Tunnel circa 1996 and see how well it goes down. Different strokes for different folks. This is why ranking songs is stupid. There’s no objective way to rank them. Complexity is not necessarily better than simplicity. Songs with interesting lyrics are not necessarily better than songs designed to make you move. And just because BR has a ‘classical’ sound, that doesn’t necessarily make it better than something that sounds futuristic like GYFO.
 

SAFMUTD

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I thought that songs such as "Nessun Dorma", "Besame mucho" or "La Vie in rose" would be above Kelly Clarkson's since you been gone but they're the experts.
 

Widow

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Put Bohemian Rhapsody on at the Tunnel circa 1996 and see how well it goes down. Different strokes for different folks. This is why ranking songs is stupid. There’s no objective way to rank them. Complexity is not necessarily better than simplicity. Songs with interesting lyrics are not necessarily better than songs designed to make you move. And just because BR has a ‘classical’ sound, that doesn’t necessarily make it better than something that sounds futuristic like GYFO.
The composition of BR, the different styles different genres of music rolled into one song. The amazingly powerful lyrics. To rank it below GYFO is comical.

Complexity doesn't always mean better but in this case, it certainly does! I'm no hater of GYFO but it's hardly ground breaking is it.

Like you said, different strokes for different folks but I'd wager BS would come out on top if a poll was taken.

We are just chewing the fat though as I too can't see a list that would be acceptable to all.
 

NasirTimothy

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The composition of BR, the different styles different genres of music rolled into one song. The amazingly powerful lyrics. To rank it below GYFO is comical.

Complexity doesn't always mean better but in this case, it certainly does! I'm no hater of GYFO but it's hardly ground breaking is it.

Like you said, different strokes for different folks but I'd wager BS would come out on top if a poll was taken.

We are just chewing the fat though as I too can't see a list that would be acceptable to all.
Actually, GYFO’s sound is much more ground breaking than BR’s. BR is a conflation of different classic sounds and ridiculously pretentious. The Timbaland sound was genuinely new in popular music.
 

11101

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Nobody approaches these lists thinking they will actually be definitive, so they're always more interesting coming from either an individual (who has their own personal taste and selections they feel passionate about) or an outlet with a strong editorial voice (whose lists therefore come with a specific slant that makes them interesting).

The lack of a real institutional voice at Rolling Stone is telling. It reads like a list that was focus-grouped together to be as bland and approachable to mainstream readers as possible, carefully combining classic songs that "have" to be on the list because they're the kind of songs that always appear on these lists with (bad) modern selections with an emphasis on (bad) commercial pop.

Which in a way does accurately reflect Rolling Stone, whose lack of any real identity saw them overtaken as a touchstone for actual music fans a long time ago by outlets like Pitchfork (which itself is journeying down a similar path). Insofar as I associate Rolling Stone with anything music related these days it is for dull lists like this. Like the grammy's, I don't think I've ever actually met a hardcore music fan who gives their opinion any weight.

Bah humbug, says I.
It's a shame because the original 2004 list and the 2010 update were fairly good all things considered. But then I suppose Rolling Stone magazine was still relevant back then.
 

NasirTimothy

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It's a shame because the original 2004 list and the 2010 update were fairly good all things considered. But then I suppose Rolling Stone magazine was still relevant back then.
The original lists were no better than this one. At least this one tried to think outside the box a little bit, though they still failed to include much outside the US/Britain/English speaking world as another poster pointed out.
 

Oranges038

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I went straight to the top 50.

No.50 - Daddy Yankee - Gasolina

Yeah, that's enough of that.
 

hungrywing

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The original lists were no better than this one. At least this one tried to think outside the box a little bit, though they still failed to include much outside the US/Britain/English speaking world as another poster pointed out.
They’re kind of missing out by not trying to branch out into other continents. They could use their platform and money to research and compile lists for other territories/countries, and of course plead forgiveness for the locals for whatever they get wrong, with a view towards a) not getting it wrong in the first place and b) updating the list like they do for the Anglo-pop-rock world.

I’d wager a lot of music-lovers would greatly appreciate a “200 Greatest Songs in _________” type deal.
 

ThierryHenry

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They’re kind of missing out by not trying to branch out into other continents. They could use their platform and money to research and compile lists for other territories/countries, and of course plead forgiveness for the locals for whatever they get wrong, with a view towards a) not getting it wrong in the first place and b) updating the list like they do for the Anglo-pop-rock world.

I’d wager a lot of music-lovers would greatly appreciate a “200 Greatest Songs in _________” type deal.
I don't expect that they have much of either in 2021...
 

OleBoiii

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No.50 - Daddy Yankee - Gasolina
It's possibly the most annoying song ever. I hated it the first time I heard it and it's only gotten worse over the years. I can't think of a single good thing about it.

Back in my university days I once went to a karaoke place with a bunch of classmates. Two of the most annoying classmates I've ever had, with the most annoying singing/rapping voices as well, performed that monstrosity of a song. It was as if Satan himself was out to ruin my night.
 

hungrywing

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I don't expect that they have much of either in 2021...
Don’t be silly. “Brown Sugar” alone brings in around $60m a year.

On a more serious note, they easily have the money to do something like the project mentioned. Trouble is now it might look like a desperation move even if packaged properly.
 

Oranges038

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It's possibly the most annoying song ever. I hated it the first time I heard it and it's only gotten worse over the years. I can't think of a single good thing about it.

Back in my university days I once went to a karaoke place with a bunch of classmates. Two of the most annoying classmates I've ever had, with the most annoying singing/rapping voices as well, performed that monstrosity of a song. It was as if Satan himself was out to ruin my night.

Worse than that fcuking ketchup song.
 

NasirTimothy

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They’re kind of missing out by not trying to branch out into other continents. They could use their platform and money to research and compile lists for other territories/countries, and of course plead forgiveness for the locals for whatever they get wrong, with a view towards a) not getting it wrong in the first place and b) updating the list like they do for the Anglo-pop-rock world.

I’d wager a lot of music-lovers would greatly appreciate a “200 Greatest Songs in _________” type deal.
I think that’s a fair point