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Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Marshmallowmilkshake
Sep 16 2021 08:23 AM

Rolling Stone seems to have updated its list of the top songs of all time, with some very questionable choices -- which I guess is the point.



[url]https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/kanye-west-stronger-1224837/



Your top 10:



10. Outkast, “Hey Ya!”

9. Fleetwood Mac, “Dreams”

8. Missy Elliott, “ Get Ur Freak On”

7. The Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever”

5. Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

4. Bob Dylan, “Like A Rolling Stone”

3. Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come”

2. Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”

1. Aretha Franklin, "Respect"



The previously discussed "Limelight," with its awesome intro, makes the list.

kcmets
Sep 16 2021 08:59 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

It's amazing how irrelevant that publication has become.

Willets Point
Sep 16 2021 09:06 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

All good songs in that top ten, but I never really get the point of ranking them. What do you get from trying to determine if songs that are so different from one another is better?

TransMonk
Sep 16 2021 09:07 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Yeah...that's, uh, a list.



I can't comprehend how they came up with that ranking and there are too many pop-up ads for me to want to explore their methodology.



OE: Once when bored on tour traveling from show to show in 2001, I bought a Rolling Stone and tore out all of the ad pages. The thick magazine became a thin pamphlet after that exercise. The problem of navigating through Rolling Stone advertising is still a roadblock today. Their "music" info isn't compelling enough to jump through those hoops.

Marshmallowmilkshake
Sep 16 2021 09:42 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

I'm not sure I'd put "Strawberry Fields" in my list of top 25 Beatles songs, much less say it is their best, and the seventh-best of all time. I thought "Hey Ya" was pretty disposable pop. "Royals?" Really?



Here's the rest of the top 30:



11: Beach Boys,"God Only Knows."

12: Stevie Wonder, "Superstition"

13: Rolling Stones, "Gimmie Shelter"

14: The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset"

15: The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

16: Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, "Crazy in Love"

17: Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody"

18: Prince and the Revolution, "Purple Rain"

19: John Lennon, "Imagine"

20: Robyn, "Dancing on My Own"

21: Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit"

22: The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"

23: David Bowie, "Heroes"

24: The Beatles ,"A Day in the Life"

25: Kanye West featuring. Pusha T, "Runaway"

26: Joni Mitchell, "A Case of You"

27: Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run"

28: Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"

29: Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg, "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang"

30: Lorde, "Royals"

kcmets
Sep 16 2021 10:33 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

25: Kanye West featuring. Pusha T, "Runaway"



Laughing so hard. I have chest pains. Call 911...

Fman99
Sep 16 2021 10:41 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Yeah that list can eat shit.

Willets Point
Sep 16 2021 11:35 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

I know it goes against Old White Guy orthodoxy but I find myself liking more types of music rather than less as I get older, so most of the songs in this list look good to me, or at least I understand their importance even if it's not something I'd groove to myself. As I said above, ranking the songs seems like a fruitless exercise as it inevitably just leads to arguments like "'Mary Had a Lamb' is ranked higher that 'Row Your Boat?' Everyone knows that that 'Row Your Boat' is the superior song!" I'd like to see a list arranged chronologically where they make an effort to show how artists on the list drew on the influences of their predecessors and how they innovated something new.

batmagadanleadoff
Sep 16 2021 12:01 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time






OE: Once when bored on tour traveling from show to show in 2001, I bought a Rolling Stone and tore out all of the ad pages. The thick magazine became a thin pamphlet after that exercise. The problem of navigating through Rolling Stone advertising is still a roadblock today. Their "music" info isn't compelling enough to jump through those hoops.


You could, just the same, be describing a Mets yearbook.



Wanna read a rock and roll magazine that's everything a rock and roll magazine oughtta be?



Try MOJO Magazine.

dinosaur jesus
Sep 16 2021 12:11 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

As you might imagine, the Bob Dylan forums are getting worked up about it. I'd be a little more indignant if I thought a concept like "best song of all time" had any meaning at all.

Johnny Lunchbucket
Sep 16 2021 12:23 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time







OE: Once when bored on tour traveling from show to show in 2001, I bought a Rolling Stone and tore out all of the ad pages. The thick magazine became a thin pamphlet after that exercise. The problem of navigating through Rolling Stone advertising is still a roadblock today. Their "music" info isn't compelling enough to jump through those hoops.


You could, just the same, be describing a Mets yearbook.



Wanna read a rock and roll magazine that's everything a rock and roll magazine oughtta be?



Try MOJO Magazine.


can you/do you get a home subscription? I still get WIRED even tho I have long stopped paying for them and its nice to get a paper mag every once in a while

batmagadanleadoff
Sep 16 2021 12:34 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

MOJO is great. I'd imagine that a subscription ain't cheap because the magazine comes from England. (I mean the U.K.) Every issue comes with a CD of about a dozen songs carefully curated around some theme linked to one of the articles in that particular issue. I'll swear by that magazine.



I dont subscribe. I.buy it on the newsstands, but not regularly or religiously. ,

batmagadanleadoff
Sep 16 2021 12:42 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=77982 time=1631817266 user_id=68]
MOJO is great. I'd imagine that a subscription ain't cheap because the magazine comes from England. (I mean the U.K.) Every issue comes with a CD of about a dozen songs carefully curated around some theme linked to one of the articles in that particular issue. I'll swear by that magazine.



I dont subscribe. I.buy it on the newsstands, but not regularly or religiously. ,



The CD's, alone, are worth the price of admission.

Edgy MD
Sep 16 2021 01:22 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

I'm disappointed by the lack of songs on that list related to safety and/or dancing.

Marshmallowmilkshake
Sep 16 2021 02:05 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Edgy MD wrote:

I'm disappointed by the lack of songs on that list related to safety and/or dancing.


501: Men Without Hats, "Safety Dance"



Just missed the list!

kcmets
Sep 16 2021 02:07 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

I'm gonna guess he knew that.

Edgy MD
Sep 16 2021 02:08 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

I'm gonna guess he's yanking my chain.

Frayed Knot
Sep 16 2021 02:16 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Somewhere in recent years, the culling and herding of everything into lists became an important thing ... at least to those who make lists.



I'm tempted to blame the internet as the moment when sources started opting for "listicles" as a lazy way to replace articles. Except that VH-1 essentially used list-making as their primary

method of existence years before the phrase 'click-bait' came into being, although I guess shows like that were more TV-remote clickable so maybe they were more the forerunner.



In more recent times, ESPN (and its clones) have turned list-making into a mainstay of sports radio programming. They'll create a list from scratch and then spend the rest of the day arguing

about the correctness of it and also how and why it's different from last week's list on the same topic (ummm, because you made it different so as to re-ignite last week's debate).

Marshmallowmilkshake
Sep 16 2021 02:19 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Edgy MD wrote:

I'm gonna guess he's yanking my chain.


I actually love that song. The longer version, when they start spelling out safety, is better than the single cut.



Actually, quality 1980s new wave is wildly underrepresented on the list, along with hard rock. There are a couple dropped in there -- "Hungry Like the Wolf" -- but not nearly enough.

Edgy MD
Sep 16 2021 02:27 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

If they don't have "The Safety Dance," then they're no friends of mine.



The funny thing is that when I saw MwH a few years back, they did a seven song set, including both versions of "The Safety Dance."

kcmets
Sep 16 2021 03:21 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

That song always makes me think of a funny story. We were scheduled to go to

a forumite's wedding and via posting or email I said I wasn't much of a dancer and

you said your not-then-wife told you if your friends don't dance they're no friends

of mine. I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but remember dumb stuff

like that all the time.

Edgy MD
Sep 16 2021 08:33 PM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Jeez, it's 2021. I better get a new punchline.

ashie62
Sep 19 2021 11:38 AM
Re: Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time

Give me Creem magazine. Boy Howdy!