Here are more. I've been listening to the songs topping the Best of lists for 2022, to see if I frantically need to change anything ... not quite ...
999 Meet On The Ledge - Fairport Convention
998 Oliver's
Army - Elvis Costello
997 The Tide Is
High - The Paragons/Blondie
996 Rainbow -
Kacey Musgraves
995 The Weekend
- SZA
994 Feel Good
Inc. - Gorillaz
993 Drops of
Jupiter - Train
992 Take a Bow -
Madonna
991 The Drowners
- Suede
990 Never Too
Much - Luther Vandross
989 U Sexy Thing
- Hot Chocolate
988 Itchycoo
Park - Small Faces
987 Solitaire -
Neil Sedaka
986 Stormy
Weather - Lena Horne
985 Summer in
the City - Lovin' Spoonful
984 Get Up Offa
That Thing - James Brown
983 Everything I
Own - Bread/Ken Holt
982 I Try - Macy
Gray
981 Enjoy the
Silence - Depeche Mode
980 Casimir
Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
979 Oblivion –
Grimes
I must have taken my eye off the ball a little in the
early 2010s. Definitely, there was more highly acclaimed music from that point
that I just couldn’t quite get. It’s been far from terminal. There’s still
loads of stuff I love and I listen to more new music than ever, but there is unquestionably more material on the top of critics' lists that makes me feel like an embattled grandad than there used to be.
Embodying this new confusion are Grimes and
Frank Ocean. I understand what’s fun, intriguing, talented about them, but I
just have not loved any of either’s songs, despite a fairly considerable
effort. I just think my ears are wrong for it. Other people are hearing
something magical, new and powerful that I’m missing, something that has moved the dial
and rewritten the rulebook I stolidly adhere to. Or maybe I’m right and it’s emperor’s new clothes
mediocrity, after all. We’ll see.
Anyway, safe to say, Grimes and Frank Ocean superfans,
this is a bad list I’m making.
978 Roar - Katy
Perry
977 Vossi Bop -
Stormzy
976 Tramp the
Dirt Down - Elvis Costello
975 Come Out
2Nite - Kenickie
974 Here's Where
the Story Ends - The Sundays
973 So What -
Pink
People, including me, often talk about a song being perfect, which, of course, implies a standard. Songs can’t really be perfect, thankfully, but we know what the word means when applied to a song, and there’s not many songs described as “perfect” that aren’t thrilling songs. But the quest for perfection can’t be everything. There are clearly songwriters – Mann/Weill, King/Goffin, Holland/Dozier/Holland, Andersson/Ulvaeus, Diane Warren, Max Martin etc, who, at times, were just so on top of their craft, so tapped into the business of creating hit songs, that they could barely go wrong, and there’s something not just satisfying but also a little depressing about that. Writing a hit shouldn’t be so easy … for anyone. There needs to be more than perfection – there needs to be stretching the limits, to be lucky mistakes, to be moments of candour and shock, to be words and sounds that don’t seem like they belong in a pop song but somehow do. Perfection changes.
Anyway, I love So What, and it doesn't sound formulaic, and, like very many 21st century hits, it's co-written by Max Martin.
972 Let's Go Fly
a Kite - Mary Poppins
971 The Twist -
Chubby Checker
970 Fever -
Peggy Lee
969 Just My
Imagination (Running Away With Me) - The Temptations
968 Up the
Junction - Squeeze
967 The Breaks -
Kurtis Blow
966 Some Girls -
Rachel Stevens
965 The Dark Is
Rising - Mercury Rev
964 Take Me Out
- Franz Ferdinand
963 Old Town
Road - Lil Nas X
962 Cuff It -
Beyonce
961 The Final
Countdown - Europe
960 Dreams - The
Cranberries
959 Thou Shalt
Always Kill - Dan Le Sac vs Scroobious Pip
958 I Write the
Songs - Barry Manilow
957 Can You Feel
It - The Jacksons
956 Close to You
- The Carpenters
955 Vincent -
Don McLean
954 Waiting in
Vain - Bob Marley
953 Summertime
Blues - Eddie Cochran
952 Band of Gold
- Freda Payne
951 Dreams -
Fleetwood Mac
I used to imagine the methodology for all the Greatest
Songs and Greatest Albums lists in music magazines was simply one person
carefully deciding how best to irritate and provoke David McGaughey, but I
think, although sometimes some of the smaller lists probably are pretty casually
judged by one or two experts (or so-called bloody experts, eh?), that the big lists,
like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, really do employ a pretty assiduous
methodology, a huge sample size of journalists and musicians across the board.
Yet, nevertheless, that allows for a certain groupthink, of people concertedly all trying to do the right thing, pick the winners, right previous wrongs. Or sometimes there’s a trigger I’ve missed.
I don’t really
know why Dreams by Fleetwood Mac was suddenly in Rolling Stone’s Top 10 songs
of All Time last year, why suddenly a critical mass was voting for it, when for
a long time it had only been at the lower reaches of such lists, if there at
all. But then I see, on the list of most streamed songs for each year, that
Dreams is the most streamed of 1976, and I realise I’ve missed something more
organic and true than I’d thought.
950 Street
Fighting Man - Rolling Stones
949 All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
I know it’s boring that I mention Dylan more than anyone
else, but, of course, you know that if I was being honest about what I actually
think are the greatest songs, there’d be about 150 Dylan songs. What’s the 150th
Greatest Dylan song … I don’t know … maybe Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) – and
sure, I think that’s greater than whatever I have at the bottom.
Anyway, as penance, on noticing I didn't have All Along the Watchtower in the list, which I'm sure i meant to have, i have taken out 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' and replaced it with the Hendrix 'All Along the Watchtower', and the world continues to turn.
948 Brown Eyed
Girl - Van Morrison
947 Return Of
The Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
946 Desperado -
The Eagles
945 St Elmo's
Fire - John Parr
944 The Mother
We Share - Chvrches
943 Scenes from
an Italian Restaurant - Billy Joel
942 Don't Dream
It's Over - Crowded House
941 Something
Coming - West Side Story
940 Route 66 -
Nat King Cole
939 Signed,
Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder
938 Sometimes -
Erasure
937 Are You That
Somebody - Aaliyah
936 Sinnerman -
Nina Simone
935 I Got a
Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
934 Piano Man -
Billy Joel
933 Just One of
the Guys - Jenny Lewis
932 Heart Like a
Wheel - The McGarrigles
931 Leave the
Door Open - SilkSonic
930 I Predict a
Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
929 Celebrity
Skin - Hole
928 Sour Times -
Portishead
927 True -
Spandau Ballet
926 Baker Street
- Gerry Rafferty
925 Everlasting
Love - Love Affair
924 My Wandering
Days are Over - Belle and Sebastian
923 Save the
Last Dance for Me - The Drifters
922 Hellhound on
My Trail - Robert Johnson
921 Do What You
Gotta Do - The Four Tops
920 School Days
- Loudon Wainwright
919 Blood on the
Leaves - Kanye West
918 Someone Like
You - Adele
917 Long Time
Coming - Delays
916 Back For
Good - Take That
915 This is How
We Do It - Montell Jordan
914 Heart-Shaped
Box - Nirvana
913 The Sick Bed
of Cuchulainn - The Pogues
912 Ain't Nobody
- Chaka Khan
911 Que Sera,
Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) - Doris Day
910 One for My
Baby (and One for the Road) - Frank Sinatra
909 I've Been
Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) - Otis Redding
908 Whiter Shade
of Pale - Procul Harum
907 Reelin' In
The Years - Steely Dan
906 Sweet Dreams
(Are Made Of This) - Eurythmics
905 Bizarre Love
Triangle - New Order
904 Get Lucky -
Daft Punk
Check out Daft Punk's new single "Get Lucky" if
you get the chance. Sound of the summer.
903 You Never
Can Tell - Chuck Berry
902 Lloyd, I'm
Ready to be Heartbroken - Camera Obscura
901 Come on
Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
900 PYT -
Michael Jackson
899 A Song for
You - Leon Russell
898 Walk on the
Wild Side - Lou Reed
897 The Dark End
of the Street - James Carr
896 Jubilee
Street - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
895 Emmylou - First
Aid Kit
894 I Don't Feel
like Dancing - Scissor Sisters
893 Nutmeg -
Ghostface Killah
892 Unbelievable
- EMF
891 Justified
and Ancient - The KLF ft Tammy Wynette
890 Tainted Love
- Soft Cell
889 Sweet Love -
Anita Baker
888 Happy Hour -
The Housemartins
887 Drive - Cars
886 Mysteries -
Beth Gibbons
885 One Armed
Scissor - At the Drive-In
884 LES Artistes
- Santigold
883 Ignore
Tenderness - Julia Jacklin
882 Sign of the
Times - Harry Styles
881 Never Ever -
All Saints
880 Sit Down –
James
But anyway, I’m more conscious than last time, than
ever, that a pop song’s greatness is not
primarily about its structure and its intricacies - although they do matter, and it
is little details, little structural hints, which guide us towards the music we love - but it
is meaning and impact above all that
makes a pop song great. Meaning something, anything. Meaning quite a lot to a
great many people or a huge amount to a fairly small amount of people. How much
Sit Down by James means to some people, or how much Alright by Kendrick Lamar
means to others.
879 We'll Meet
Again - Vera Lynn
878 Femme Fatale
- The Velvet Underground
877 I Will
Always Love You - Dolly Parton
876 Jealous Guy
- John Lennon
875 River - Joni
Mitchell
874 Where Is My
Mind? - The Pixies
873 Somewhere
Only We Know – Keane
I was thinking, again, about songs that I thought were
great when I first heard them … I thought of, wait for it, 212 by Azealia Banks
and Somewhere Only We Know by Keane, which I’d guess is the first time those
two songs have ever been in the same sentence. You know, 212 remains
mind-blowingly, hilariously, unmatchably fun and good, and of course not
possible to play on the radio or in front of anyone you don’t implicitly trust
for more than a few seconds. I’d read it was really great, and I listened to
it, and it could probably have changed everything I’d ever felt about music if
there’d been more like it.
Which is not true of Somewhere Only We Know, which is
very much in my natural range, but, you know, deserves more credit than it
gets. I remember listening to it for the first time, when I listened to a lot
of solid indie radio, and there was lots, roughly, of that kind of stuff
around, and with Somewhere Only We Know, as I listened, thinking, this is
pretty clear and strong, I wonder if it has a chorus, they usually don’t make
it to the chorus, and, hey presto, this one really had a chorus.
Keane were never going to be given a chance, the way they
sounded, the way they looked, to be anything but despised and extremely
successful.
Bit unfair, really. I read an interview with Tom Chaplin
recently and I quite warmed to him, he was very clear-minded – in particularly
he was pretty gently admonitory towards Coldplay – the extent to which they
have relentlessly committed to bigness, to pop/rockstardom, and never really
taken a risk. Of four massive bore-rock bands of that time … Travis, Coldplay,
Keane, Snow Patrol, say what you like, the other three apart from Coldplay did
some weird songs with proper lyrics, changed styles, gave themselves the
opportunity to fail, and did fail, and in admirable ways, at times. I’m not a
huge fan of Keane, but they did a few other pretty good, odd, songs later on,
and this song just towers in its towering way, and I’m just fine with that.
872 Wrecking
Ball - Miley Cyrus
871 Idioteque -
Radiohead
870 Single
Ladies - Beyonce
869 Kashmir -
Led Zeppelin
868 Teenage
Kicks - The Undertones
867 Pretend
We're Dead - L7
866 Smile - Nat
King Cole
865 Wake Up -
Arcade Fire
864 Ticket To
Ride - Beatles
863 You Got the
Love - Candi Staton
862 Language Of
Violence - Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
861 Hold On -
Alabama Shakes
860 Mid Air -
Paul Buchanan
I remember seeing Paul Buchanan, who was the leader of the Blue Nile, on Jools Holland, playing this song then talking about this song being as close as he'd got to ... I can't remember his exact words ... but something like ... the pure song ... or the bones of the song. Something like that. This song is so precise, small and beautiful.
859 Walk Away
Renee - The Left Banke/Four Tops
858 The Wild
Ones - Suede
857 Tell It Like
It Is - Aaron Neville
856 Relax -
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
855 I Put A
Spell On You - Screaming Jay Hawkins
854 The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scott-Heron
853 Under the
Boardwalk - The Drifters
852 Get Off My
Cloud - The Rolling Stones
851 Stand! - Sly
and the Family Stone
850 Fistful Of
Love - Antony and the Johnsons
849 Iris - Goo
Good Dolls
If there one thing I love more than lists, it's lists- this one's about most streamed songs of every year https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63490691
This is very handy, and fairly interesting. A lot of it is was you’d expect.
It’s interesting the extent to which boy balladeers lead the way in recent
years, going back to Wonderwall, but then hardly at all before that, where it’s
anthems and party songs all the way.
I find some of the sappy boy songs hard going, but I
wouldn’t be too scathing about your James Arthurs and your Passengers. The
songs are put together perfectly well, and they’re not that far from what I
like, or what I used to like. It’s, of course, galling that the two songs that
have stood the test of time from my halcyon post-millennial days are Dancing in
the Moonlight and How You Remind Me, very special versions of hell. But,
anyway, one has to accept that most of these tracks need to be called great pop
songs, one way or another.
848 Freedom -
Beyonce ft Kendrick Lamar
847 Sons and
Daughters - The Decemberists
846 Do You
Realize?? - The Flaming Lips
845 End Of The
Road - Boyz II Men
844 I Feel Fine
- The Beatles
843 Runaway -
Del Shannon
842 Simple Twist
Of Fate - Bob Dylan
841 White Man in
Hammersmith Palais - The Clash
840 If There's
Any Justice - Lemar
839 Mr Bojangles
- Nina Simone
838 Goldfinger -
Shirley Bassey
837 I Believe
When I Fall in Love with You It Will be Forever - Stevie Wonder
836 Tomorrow
(From "Annie")
835 Tumbling
Dice - The Rolling Stones
834 Sprawl 2 -
Arcade Fire
833 Hotline
Bling - Drake
832 Patience -
Take That
831 White Winter
Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
830 Leave Right
Now - Will Young
829 Kids - MGMT
828 Motorcycle
Emptiness - Manic Street Preachers
827 Connection -
Elastica
826 Tempted -
Squeeze
825 Saturday
Night at the Movies - The Drifters
824 And Your
Bird Can Sing - The Beatles
823 Rescue Me -
Fontella Bass
822 Tupelo Honey
- Van Morrison
821 Trash - New
York Dolls
820 The Boys of
Summer - Don Henley
819 Jump Around
- House of Pain
818 Chicago -
Sufjan Stevens
817 Can't Fight
the Feeling - Justin Timberlake
816 Bad Religion
- Frank Ocean
815 On and On -
The Longpigs
814 Gloria -
Patti Smith/Van Morrison
813 Can You Get
to That – Funkadelic
I’ve come to the viewpoint – and any Bob Dylan
fan/apologist would say this – that it doesn’t matter how you come to the song,
it’s only the song that people hear that counts. If you steal someone’s words
and melody, but do it well enough, get away with it, it’s yours. If you do a
cover which makes people forget the original, good on you. If your trick for
making great pop songs is simple, cynical and banal, but they still sound like
great pop songs, so be it. That doesn’t mean this kind of stuff doesn’t matter
to me as a listener, but if it doesn’t matter, then it doesn’t matter. I hope
that makes sense.
I mean, sure, it so happens that I never really liked
‘Start!’ as Jam songs go, because I knew it was a rip-off of Taxman, but, until today I
didn’t know that Rill Rill, by Sleigh Bells – which I casually have loved for a
decade or so - wasn’t an original sound but sampled from this Funkadelic track. That
doesn’t detract from how much I loved the song until now – it might in the
future, I’ll hear a different song, but that’s a different matter. I don’t
really believe in plagiarism in popular song anyway, only 12 notes and all
that. Pay people if you directly use their actual recorded song, otherwise, all
bets are off, I reckon. There we go, hope that solves it.
812 After the
Love Has Gone - Earth, Wind and Fire
811 Believe -
Cher
810 Gigantic -
The Pixies
809 Find the
River - REM
808 Angela Surf
City - The Walkmen
807 Right Here -
SWV
806 I'm Too Sexy
- Right Side Fred
805 Under
Pressure - Queen and David Bowie
804 Baby I Love
You - The Ronettes
803 Nightshift - The Commodores
802 Imagine -
John Lennon
801 Cum On Feel
The Noise - Slade
800 When I Fall
In Love - Nat King Cole
799 Candle in
the Wind - Elton John
798 Fire and
Rain - James Taylor
797 Blackstar-
David Bowie
796 Martha - Tom
Waits
795 Live and Let
Die - Wings
794 Stop -
Erasure
793 All Apologies
- Nirvana
792 Pink Rabbits
- The National
791 Never Loved
A Man He Way That I Loved You - Aretha Franklin
790 Prince
Charming - Adam and the Ants
789 Fake Plastic
Trees - Radiohead
788 I Can't Stop
Loving You - Ray Charles
787 Sweet
Talkin' Woman - ELO
786 Two Princes
- Spin Doctors
785 Danny
Nedelko - Idles
784 Song to the
Siren - This Mortal Coil/Tim Buckley
783 Wake Me Up
Before you Go-Go - Wham!
782 Buddy Holly
- Weezer
781 Heaven - The
Walkmen
780 Archie.
Marry Me - Alvvays
779 The Life You
Chose - Jason Isbell
778 Complicated
- Avril Lavigne
777 Where Are We
Now? - David Bowie
776 I Believe in
a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
775 How Deep is
Your Love - Bee Gees
774 This Old
Heart of Mine - Isley Brothers
773 A Spoonful
of Sugar (Mary Poppins)
772 To Ramona -
Bob Dylan
771 All in Love
is Fair - Stevie Wonder
770 Rapture -
Blondie
769 Don't Speak
- No Doubt
768 Alright -
Supergrass
Don't think twice, it's ...
767 Can't Do
Much - Waxahatchee
766 September
Song - Ella Fitzgerald
765 Rolling in
the Deep - Adele
764 Chop Suey! -
System of a Down
763 Sound of the
Underground - Girls Aloud
762 Losing My
Religion - REM
761 Fuck da
Police - NWA
760 The First
Big Weekend - Arab Strap
759 Just Like
Christmas - Low
758 Steppin’ Out
- Joe Jackson
757 King of the
Road - Roger Miller
756 Working
Class Hero - John Lennon
755 Down In The
Tube Station at Midnight - The Jam
754 For A Dancer
- Jackson Browne
753 Burning Love
- Elvis Presley
752 Ça Plane
Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand
This song is primarily not in English, so I am opening up myself to accusations of hypocrisy, but then again, he does song "I am the king of the divan" so it's probably just about ok.
751 It Ain't
Necessarily So - Diahann Carroll
750 Rave On -
Buddy Holly
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