What’s your top 10 favourite songs?
Music Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of all time
- Thread starter FootyGirl88
- Start date
I dont know about that. Here is the original top 10. Some of these might not be in your personal top 10 but its hard to argue against any of them being pretty high up a list like this.
| Rank | Artist | Song | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob Dylan | "Like a Rolling Stone" | 1965 |
| 2 | The Rolling Stones | "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" | 1965 |
| 3 | John Lennon | "Imagine" | 1971 |
| 4 | Marvin Gaye | "What's Going On" | 1971 |
| 5 | Aretha Franklin | "Respect" | 1967 |
| 6 | The Beach Boys | "Good Vibrations" | 1966 |
| 7 | Chuck Berry | "Johnny B. Goode" | 1958 |
| 8 | The Beatles | "Hey Jude" | 1968 |
| 9 | Nirvana | "Smells Like Teen Spirit" | 1991 |
| 10 | Ray Charles | "What'd I Say" | 1959 |
In the latest list we have Missy fecking Elliot, a cheesy Outkast song and, as good as a song as it is, is Fight The Power really the second best song ever recorded?
I.e. if it’s a hip hop song it can’t be in the top 10. That’s what you’ve just written there.
It seems very similar to the way the Oscars have been behaving; overcorrecting wildly instead of trying to develop a more nuanced approach in the digital age with so many more factors engaging the eyeballs of the consumer.
From the comments section of the RS article:
Note: the caf autocensor was censoring the “ur” in the song title. What happens when someone tries to discuss the ancient Sumerian city?
This person thinks that Mary J Blige wrote GYFO. They also don’t understand that there’s much more to music than just lyrics. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to them.
TBF he’s kind of being overly sarcastic and the MJB thing is an understandable mistake - one can let that one slide.
I never knew Nelly Furtado co-wrote that song though. Learn something new every day.
It’s not an understandable mistake at all. How are Missy Elliott and Mary J Blige remotely similar? It speaks to his general arrogant dislike of hip hop and RnB that he mistakes two wildly different artists for eachother.
If he’s a sixty year old hippie, for example, then surely what he did falls within in the general realm of ‘excusable typo’, similar to how a hardcore modern hip-hop fan could be excused for mixing up a Caucasian southern-us 60s rock-related tidbit in a similar manner. Especially since he’s referencing info that’s right on hand and easy to correct. One would get what he/she was trying to say. Ignorant, maybe, but not point-invalidatingly so, at least IMO.
‘I think you meant Missy Elliot there, Pete. Is MJB the only other black female artist you know?’ I suppose his response to a question like that would tell you if he’s an arrogant person or not. If he sheepishly acknowledges the mistake, then honest mistake.
I agree with you that it does kind of smell of ‘only knows a handful of black female artists’ but it’s not enough to be conclusive. Either way you do have a point that it seriously dents his credibility if he’s trying to be serious and not just sarcastic for amusement.
Read through it for a laugh and of course it is hopelessly slanted towards what RS considers hip with tons of massive bands completely ignored for not being cool enough and as others have mentioned there appears to be a complete failure to even recognize that songs sung in another language even exist. I think beyond that though some of the choices are odd, somebody mentioned some random Radiohead track which would hardly be considered a classic even by their own fans and this is repeated with a few acts. Rush get one track and it is not "Tom Sawyer" which is objectively the only Rush song non fans know. Abba only getting in there once is criminal too and "Dancing Queen" might be their biggest US hit but it is nowhere near their best song. Cannot take it too seriously though as lists are just an exercise in nerdery.
I think everything you’ve said here is fair.
ABBA definitely merit inclusion and you’ve highlighted another problem: what is and what is not deemed ‘cool’ by RS (a deeply uncool dadrock publication if you ask me
)Thanks; least I could do.
Personally, i think RS should have gone the Billboard route and created more precise categories so they didn’t run into situations like this where they’re caught between keeping up with new output and trying too hard to be ‘inclusive’ at the expense of equally deserving works.
I mean, there are probably god-level musicologists out there who could name five hundred songs at the same freaking level, let alone ranked.
The genre thing is certainly a problem…..
Let me guess its mostly 1960s dad rock with some modern rap songs like WAP thrown in?
It's not possible to narrow it down to 10. I can list 10 songs I love, though I'm not sure what it proves.
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Sam Cooke - A Change is gonna come
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You
The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
The Beatles - While my guitar gently weeps
Kraftwerk - The model
Paul Simon - You can call me Al
Bruce Springsteen - Meeting across the river
Alsion Krauss - Down to the river to pray
The Pharcyde - Runnin'
Did they really put Hotline Bling on there?
You don’t like anything new? Everything you’ve put is at least 20 years old, and many of them are almost 60 years old. Not judging, just asking.
That definitely sounds a bit on the judgemental side.
On a serious note: when it comes to well produced pop they actually have 2 or 3 good songs.
Of course, Jon Hopkins, Jamie XX, St.Vincent, Kendrick in recent years. This year Bicep and Sofia Kourtesis have impressed me. I can't get enough of Little Simz' I love you, I hate you at the moment.
It's fine. I'm just waiting to see why it's relevant to me thinking Get your freak on is shit though.That definitely sounds a bit on the judgemental side.
you pretty much like old music or music that sounds old. Timbaland’s production was groundbreaking so that’s probably why you don’t like it.
Hip hop is one of my favourite genres. You could make a list of 500 hip hop songs that are better than those.
500 songs better than Fight the Power? Ok
I'm not sure we can like 'Get Ur* Freak On' anymore anyway, came out in 2001 so is old music now.
Brilliant, so your argument is I only like old music so that's why I don't like the song that is 20 years old? I hate to break it to you but Timbaland and Missy Elliot aren't new.
In what way are the newer artists I listed all old sounding?
Ground-breaking doesn't mean good either, things can be ground-breaking and utterly shite, like GYFO.
Hip hop isn't my favourite genre by any means, but if anyone is seriously suggesting that Get Your Freak On is one of the best songs ever recorded, not only in the genre, but in any genre, they need to give their head a wobble. Inane lyrics and a shit, monotonous beat. There are dozens, if not hundreds of hip hop artists out there who have whole albums full of songs that are better than that shite.
Anyway, Rolling Stone achieved what they wanted. They got people all riled up about their moronic list. I didn't bother looking through the whole thing, but I knew the whole thing was worthless when I skipped to the top 50 and saw fecking Gasolina. "Yeah, that seems fair" isn't a the reaction you want from your readers if you want to generate clicks, which seems to be more important than integrity or common sense in this day and age.
Anyway, Rolling Stone achieved what they wanted. They got people all riled up about their moronic list. I didn't bother looking through the whole thing, but I knew the whole thing was worthless when I skipped to the top 50 and saw fecking Gasolina. "Yeah, that seems fair" isn't a the reaction you want from your readers if you want to generate clicks, which seems to be more important than integrity or common sense in this day and age.
Where did they rank Viva Ronaldo?
Music is all about moving forward IMO
Still sounds fresh. Unlike the Alison Krauss song he listed which was recorded 20 years ago but the tune is probably hundreds of years old.
I'm not sure we can like 'Get Ur* Freak On' anymore anyway, came out in 2001 so is old music now.
Well done for not answering any of the points.
You're moving the goal posts. Just admit GYFO is rubbish and we can all go home happy.
You seem to be close to saying that when a song was made doesn't determine how it should be judged.
Huh...never knew Joe Strummer wrote that MIA song Paper Planes. Cool.
It’s not rubbish. You are just very narrow minded musically.
What I’m talking about is innovation, which I consider to be important in popular music. Missy and Timbaland were innovative in terms of the sound they created and (along with the Neptunes) moved hip hop away from its bedrock of soul and funk samples (much of which I love as well, but they were trying to do something different).
You should read his posts in the Messi vs. Ronaldo thread. Moving the goal posts is his MO.*
*His secondary MO. His primary MO is being wrong.
I've always hated Get Your Freak On.
What was groundbreaking in popular music in that song? The Indian music?
Yep rapping on bhangra. Timbaland's stuff sounds dated.