2022 Greatest Songs: Part 1 (2022-1700)

I started this blog, in 2009, with a list of 101 songs. 5 years later I made a list of 1001 songs. Now, almost nine years after that, it's 2022. Go big or go home, I say.  As much as I did my best with my 2014 list of the 1001 Greatest! Songs! Ever! I’ve quite often thought there are some pretty obviously wrong placings near the top, so, first of all, I wanted to amend those. I changed my mind about Number 1, for starters, and now think I’ve come up with a very satisfactory, albeit undoubtedly wrong, answer.

I wrote a big introduction before the 1001 songs list, and it’s quite good, it’s ok, it explains a lot of why I think doing this is a fun and interesting and not preposterous thing to do, and it explains how much I love songs, and how much thought I put into them. If there is an imaginary reader who is genuinely interested in all this self-indulgent, time-poor silliness, they might reread that.

But, the thing which is a bit embarrassing in that original intro is where I say “you’ll disagree with the order but I don’t think I’ve missed anything truly significant”. In truth, someone could make a list of 10,000 greatest songs and lots of people would be appalled by some of the absences.

I have listened to a lot more songs since then, and I’ve come into contact with a lot more genres and tastes I hardly knew existed. My own taste has changed, though, honestly, not that much. But I think this list is better. It takes into account somewhat the way the rules and the societal order of the song have changed pretty significantly.

But, also, I’m clearer than ever that this is all nonsense, of course. I have no idea, of course. So, really, it’s just a great big list of good songs. I’ve listened to all of them, but some of them I’ve listened to 100s of times, some of them I’ve listened to once.

I’m not going to do a big introduction this time, but I’ll throw in some easily digestible thoughts along the way, and maybe one or two of them will be interesting. I may well repeat myself and contradict myself along the way.

I’ll split the whole thing up into a few different posts.

I'll start from the bottom ...

2022      Tribute - Tenacious D

This is not the greatest song in the world, no…

2021      2021 - Vampire Weekend

Nor is this …

2020      Laura - Scissor Sisters

2019      In Love - The Raincoats

2018      Money on My Mind - Sam Smith

2017      Safe as Milk - Captain Beefheart

2016      Your Best American Girl - Mitski

2015      Grindin' - Clipse

2014      Flowers in the Window - Travis

2013      Back Door Man - Howlin' Wolf

2012      Freed from Desire - Gala

2011      Red Strokes - Garth Brooks

2010      Gangnam Style - Psy

2009      These Days - Rudimental

2008      Laid - James

2007      Don't Upset the Rhythm - The Noisettes

2006      Plug In Baby - Muse

2005      One to Another - The Charlatans

2004      I Love Your Smile - Shanice

2003      Inner City Life - Goldie

2002      Hate it Or Love It - The Game

2001      Hush - Deep Purple

2000      Beggin' - Four Seasons

1999      The Riddle - Nik Kershaw

1998      I Love Rock'n'Roll - Joan Jett

1997      Moody - ESG

1996      Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth

1995      I Want to Know What Love is - Foreigner

1994      Wake Me Up - Avicii

1993      Price Tag - Jessie J

1992      Defying Gravity (Wicked)

1991      Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson

1990      The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy

1989      Dy-Na-Mi-Tee - Ms Dynamite

1988      Sick 2 Def - Plan B

1987      Lithuania - Dan Bern

1986      The Engine Driver - The Decemberists

1985      Cry Me a River - Justin Timberlake

1984      Goodies - Ciara

1983      Redneck Woman - Gretchen Wilson

1982      Last Resort - Papa Roach

1981      The Humpty Dance - Digital Underground

1980      Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City - Bobby Bland

1979      1979 - Smashing Pumpkins

I think that gag’s gone far enough …

1978      Walking on Thin Ice - Yoko Ono

1977      You’re The First, The Last My Everything - Barry White

1976      Satta Massagana - The Abyssinians

1975      Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus

1974      Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key - Billy Bragg and Wilco

1973      Under Me Sleng Teng - Wayne Smith

1972      Cherish - Kool and the Gang

1971      Things Can Only Get Better - D.Ream

1970      Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin

1969      C'est La Vie - B*Witched

1968      Typical Girls - The Slits

1967      Do It Again - Steely Dan

1966      Have You Seen Her - Chi-Lites

1965      Human Fly - The Cramps

1964      Movin' On Up - Primal Scream

1963      Making Time - The Creation

1962      Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival

1961      Autumn Leaves - Jo Stafford

1960      Boom Clap - Charli XCX

1959      DANCE - Justice

1958      Cop Killer - Body Count

1957      The Gambler - Kenny Rogers

1956      In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry

1955      I Wish - Stevie Wonder

1954      Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith

1953      Shine - Aswad

1952      Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden

1951      You're Making Me High - Toni Braxton

1950      Hips Don't Lie - Shakira

1949      Obviously - McFly

1948      Counting Stars - One Republic

1947      Honey and the Moon - Joseph Arthur

1946      New American Language - Dan Bern

1945      Pictures of Success - Rilo Kiley

1944      Feelgood Hit Of The Summer - Queens of the Stone Age

1943      Queen of Denmark - John Grant

1942      Hold On We're Going Home - Drake

OK, I will establish the rule that I won’t include anything that I truly hate, even if it fits most criteria for a great song. So I won’t include Angels, which does set me teeth on edge, or Wannabe, but when it comes to the likes Imagine, Bohemian Rhapsody and Hotel California, I think there’s a sense there’s a musical rite of passage which involves saying, or thinking, you hate them, whereas in fact, whatever, they’re fine. Purple Rain may end up being the same thing. Over-rated all of them, a bit much, but basically well enough put together and significant to the culture.

Actually, I hate this Drake song, Hate it. But it’s on the list. So there go the rules. I struggle with some of the absolute biggest commercial stars of the modern day, be they Drake, Sheeran or even Adele. I haven’t brought myself to put anything by Ed Sheeran on the list. Sorry.

1941      Gonna Make You a Star - David Essex

1940      If You're Not the One - Daniel Bedingfield

1939      Sorrow - Life Without Buildings

1938      If It Be Your Will - Leonard Cohen

1937      Crash - Primitives

1936      Night to Remember - Shalamar

1935      Alone - Heart

1934      I’m Not In Love - 10cc

1933      Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again - The Carpenters

1932      I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better- The Byrds

1931      End of a Century - Blur

1930      The Killing of Georgie - Rod Stewart

1929      BagBak - Vince Staples

1928      Postcards from Italy - Beirut

1927      Praise You - Fatboy Slim

1926      Long Distance Call - Phoenix

1925      I Was Made for Sunny Days - The Weepies

1924      Dream Baby Dream - Suicide

1923      Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters

1922      Love the One You're With - Stephen Stills

1921      007 (Shantytown) - Desmond Dekker and the Aces

1920      Fist City - Loretta Lynn

1919      I Fall to Pieces - Patsy Cline

1918      18 with a Bullet - Pete Wingfield

1917      Memory - from Cats

1916      Pretty in Pink - Psychedelic Furs

1915      The Man with the Child in His Eyes - Kate Bush

1914      Letter from an Occupant - The New Pornographers

1913      Dreaming - Blondie

1912      Kelly Watch the Stars - Air

1911      American Boy - Estelle

1910      Formed a Band - Art Brut

1909      The Bottle - Gil Scott-Heron

1908      Come Pick Me Up - Ryan Adams

It became inevitable to me, as soon as I started, that the list should expand. It is nine years later. There are a lot more songs in the world. I think, when I made that list, I hadn’t started streaming yet, so couldn’t quite listen to absolutely anything whenever I wanted. I definitely listen to more songs every year than I used to.

And – an important point that strikes me – lots of songs from the past are deemed to have got better, been re-evaluated, given a proper place, but I’m not sure that many songs truly get worse. I think films and books, as attitudes, techniques and technologies change, are quite often cast aside and genuinely downgraded retrospectively, but I think songs are too small for that to happen on a grand scale. Some stay the same, but I’m not sure if they degrade (I will slightly contradict myself on this later).

There are distinct examples like Ignition by R Kelly, where there is no joy left to it, so it will not be deemed to have a place in the culture, and thus lose its meaning, and there may be revisionists takes on genres, but although “feelings” for specific songs evolve constantly, it is pretty hard to change how we “think”, both as an individual and as a culture, about a song.

And this guy's songs have got worse too .... 

1907      Senorita - Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello

1906      This is Me - The Greatest Showman

1905      Swinging on a Star - Bing Crosby

1904      Funky Kingston - Toots and the Maytals

1903      That's The Joint - Funky Four Plus One

1902      Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves

1901      Last Night - The Strokes

1900      Tighten Up - Archie Bell and the Drells

1899      Human Nature - Michael Jackson

1898      Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan

1897      Something on Your Mind - Karen Dalton

1896      Sweet Gene Vincent - Ian Dury and the Blockheads

1895      Something in the Air - Thunderclap Newman

1894      Against All Odds - Phil Collins

1893      Tease Me - Shaka Demus and Pliers

1892      Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams

Context matters a lot, of course. There’s nothing I disliked and resented so much as Robbie Williams’ music in his imperial period from the late 90s to the early 2000s. God, he was everywhere, with his songs, a bit like fun, cool songs, but not fun, cool songs. What fun it was when the great enemy was the latest Robbie Williams single.

But I think there’s a very specific reason I hated Robbie Williams so much, which is Angels ... but also an interview he and Guy Chambers gave after Angels had become a massive sleeper hit, where he bragged along the lines that Gary Barlow could never have written a song with such spiritual depth and meaning (I wish I could find the actual interview). I had already hated Angels for quite some time then, what with it being bobbins, but something about the self-serving hogwash of that quote hardened my loathing. It was very funny when, years later, it emerged that Williams had, somewhat, nicked the song off an Irishman called Ray Heffernan. Weirdly, rather like the recent Corden joke-stealing controversy, the very preposterousness of giving that interview while that was the case slightly softens me towards Williams. There’s something interesting going on there.

Anyway, I remember his two singles before Angels, called Lazy Day and South of the Border, which were pretty unsuccessful, I’d not exactly hated, just thought “good on him for fading away from the public consciousness with pleasantly jaunty indie rock”. It wasn’t my destiny to loathe Robbie.

The thing about Angels is a few things. One, it hits many benchmarks of a classic people’s song, the way it crept deeply into the public consciousness, became a favourite at both weddings and funerals, a song to sing and cry along to. But it’s bad, of course. That’s not like I say I struggle with Purple Rain or some song I used to love but now hate like Bohemian Rhapsody. Angels is pretty obviously bad, lots of people think that. It’s hackneyed and obvious, the words don’t make much sense, the rhymes are head-bothering (“I sit and wait, does an angel contemplate my fate” … no, no, sorry), the way he sings them even worse. It’s a bad song. It wouldn’t be as bad if someone like, say, David McAlmont or The Walkmen did it, but I’d still think “oof, that’s a bit of a shonky song”.

Whereas … now I think about it, Let Me Entertain You, which I also hated, because it was Robbie Williams straight after Angels (an almost-identical one-two, two years later, to Oasis’s Wonderwall-Don’t Look Back in Anger), is good. Good as in it does what it says, and it’s a bit funny, and it suits him perfectly, that blend of showmanship, ego and neediness. So, if there had been no Angels, no Angels interview, maybe I’d have put up with Robbie more phlegmatically, but I expect that’s not what he’d have wanted anyway.

1891      Footloose - Kenny Loggins

1890      Red Alert - Basement Jaxx

1889      Shackles - Mary Mary

1888      Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5

I always see Adam Levine as the evil ghost of Jeff Buckley - little Scott Moorhead did a deal with the devil to have two alternative timelines, and if he died, to come back, sacrifice everything great and beautiful that he stood for, and put out catchy, creepy, narcissistic pop songs. Of those songs, Moves Like Jagger is, I guess, the best.

1887      Shotgun - George Ezra

1886      Switching Off - Elbow

1885      Ladyflash - The Go! Team

1884      Massive Night - The Hold Steady

1883      If the Brakeman Turns My Way - Bright Eyes

1882      Dakota - Stereophonics

1881      Pon de Replay - Rihanna

1880      I've Always Been Crazy - Waylon Jennings

1879      Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson

1878      Yeah - Usher

1877      Is This the Way to Amarillo - Tony Christie

Popular song is, so much, about shared experience, even if we (I?) try to flee from that. Most of our understanding of a song’s greatness comes from a confirming experience that other people feel the same way too, or indeed that we (I?) feel the same way as other people. That may just be reading a review of a song that mirrors your feeling about it, it may be at a concert where you’re part of 100s or 1000s people that move the same way to a song, it may be dancing in a club to a song you’ve never heard before, it may be listening to a song in the pop charts and thinking, for once, this is pretty great. It’s rare (in some ways quite precious) that we listen in a vacuum, and that never lasts for long. Popular song is a complex web of shared experience. 

So, sometimes, a song like this becomes a big deal out of nowhere and you have to acknowledge it.

1876      Somebody to Love - Queen

1875      Suicide Is Painless (Theme from MASH)

1874      I Saw The Light - Todd Rundgren

1873      Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart - Gene Pitney and Marc Almond

1872      Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam - The Vaselines

1871      Play Dead - Bjork

1870      Wind of Change - Scorpions

1869      Ghosts - Japan

1868      Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode

1867      New Madrid - Uncle Tupelo

1866      Drop the Pressure - Milo

1865      So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings - Caroline Polachek

1864      Finishing the Hat (Sunday Afternoon ... - Sondheim)

1863      Round Eye Blues - Marah

1862      Dreamy Days - Roots Manuva

1861      Something Inside So Strong - Labi Siffre

1860      The Ghetto - Donny Hathaway

1859      Shorley Wall - Ooberman

1858      I'm Going Down - Rose Royce

1857      Louie Louie - The Kingsmen

1856      I Ain't Marching Anymore - Phil Ochs

1855      McArthur Park - Richard Harris

1854      My Prayer - The Platters

1853      Punk Rock Girl - The Dead Milkmen

1852      Wild Thing - The Troggs

1851      The Next Movement - The Roots

1850      Dear Mama - Tupac

1849      Mahgeetah - My Morning Jacket

1848      The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ - Jackie Leven

1847      Cabaret (from Cabaret)

1846      Slaveship - Josh Rouse

1845      Seven Days - Craig David

1844      Overload - Sugababes

1843      Return of the Mack - Mark Morrison

1842      Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) - Crystal Gayle

1841      54-46 was My Number - Toots and the Maytals

1840      You've Really Got a Hold on Me - Smokey Robinson

1839      Hammond Song - The Roches

1838      Pump Up the Volume - MARRS

1837      Hey Ma - Cam'ron

This is good! I think I’d not thought this was good, but it turns out it is.

1836      Our Lips are Sealed - The Go-Gos

1835      Everything I Do (I Do it For You) - Bryan Adams

Radio makes a lot of songs great. More than music TV ever has done, whether that’s MTV, Top of the Pops, Jools Holland or whatever else. Songs have always risen on radio. Perhaps it’s the case slightly less now, now there’s everything else social, but pop music radio is still widely listened to, it’s still the place millions of people are listening to the same thing at the same time, and together thinking “I like this, what is it?”

I listened to Capital FM first, from, I’d guess, around 1988 to 1994. I remember trying Radio 1 during that time and just struggling with the lack of jingles and cheesy ads! By 93 and 94, I was starting to hate Capital. It was not playing the songs I wanted and when it was, it was cutting them off early. I first moved on to Virgin Radio, which felt revelatory to start with, whether it was playing Paul Simon,  REM or Oasis (such range!). A different idea (not that different) of what a great song was. In truth, more monochrome, more rockist than Capital, but at the time, it felt more diverse in its way.

For most of the late 90s I was listening to Radio 1, where even their mainstream shows played plenty of indie and stuff I liked at that time, before moving on to xfm and then Radio 6. I listen to radio rarely these days and curate my own taste based on reviews and existing knowledge more than anything else – I suppose I miss all those moments when a song grabs me out of nowhere, where I know I’m with millions of other people hearing the same thing and having the same response.

It is, ironically, my Capital years that have made the biggest impression. It was the only time I really listened to pop music with urgency, where I knew nothing else and it was my main source. Not that I loved it all, as I knew there was something else out there. But I didn’t know how to access it.

I’d listen to the Top 10 at 10, the Neil Fox Jukebox, the charts, and, of course, the highlight of the listening year, the annual Hall of Fame rundown of 500 songs. Those were the first lists of Greatest Songs I ever listened to (and statistically analysed, if they happened to be printed in a newspaper). I wish I could remember all the perennial highflyers – certainly Careless Whisper, Stairway to Heaven, Bohemian Rhapsody, I Will Always Love You when it hit, Hotel California, Boys of Summer, Without You, More than a Feeling. I remember George Michael, Phil Collins and Elton John were the most prominent throughout the 500 songs. It was certainly a moment in time. When I checked in on the Capital Hall of Fame in the late 90s and early 2000s, I saw it had been as much Oasisifyed as everything else (it is still the case that you’ll get large groups of British people to vote on the greatest songs of all time and 25 of the top 20 will be by Oasis).

I’ve listened to so many more Greatest Songs lists since then that, in a way, I agree with more, but I still have a massive fondness for those lists.

Saying all that, it was film, not radio, that made this song the song in the summer of 91, when I, like so many, did not get my first real six-string.

1834      Fame - Irena Cara

1833      swimming pools (drank) - Kendrick Lamar

1832      Hejira - Joni Mitchell

1831      Oxygen - Willy Mason

1830      Oh Carolina - Shaggy

1829      Layla - Derek and the Dominos

1828      Darling Be Home Soon - The Lovin' Spoonful

1827      21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson

1826      Ain't That Enough - Teenage Fanclub

1825      Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear

1824      Insomnia - Faithless

1823      Baby I Don't Care - Tranvision Vamp

1822      Milk and Alcohol - Dr Feelgood

1821      Love of the Common People - Nicky Thomas

1820      Rain on Me - Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga

1819      Brick - Ben Folds Five

1818      Barcode Bypass - Mull Historical Society

1817      Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

1816      Monkey Man - Toots and the Maytals

1815      Information Inspiration - Shuggie Otis

1814      To Hell With Good Intentions - Mclusky

1813      Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr

1812      Scottish Pop - Spearmint

1811      Thot Shit - Megan Thee Stallion

1810      Out in the Streets - Shangri-Las

1809      The Chalet Lines - Belle and Sebastian

1808      Visions - Stevie Wonder

1807      I Never Asked to be Your Mountain - Tim Buckley

1806      Love Shack - B-52s

1805      Lazy Sunday - Small Faces

1804      Silver Machine - Hawkwind

1803      Could it be I'm Falling in Love - The Spinners

1802      Where Do you Go to My Lovely - Peter Sarstedt

1801      Song for Whoever - Beautiful South

1800      Rocket Man - Elton John

1799      Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth - Dandy Warhols

1798      Can't Do Without You - Caribou

1797      Overcome - Laura Mvula

1796      Rhythm is a Dancer - Snap

1795      I Feel for You - Chaka Khan

1794      Valerie - Steve Winwood

1793      Knock on Wood - Eddie Floyd

1792      See Emily Play - Pink Floyd

1791      I Get Along Without You Very Well - Chet Baker

1790      Ring My Bell - Anita Ward

1789      Black Magic - Little Mix

1788      21 Seconds - So Solid Crew

1787      Little Baby Nothing - Manic Street Preachers

1786      Spice Up Your Life - Spice Girls

1785      Land of Make Believe - Bucks Fizz

1784      All By Myself - Eric Carmen

1783      That's When I Reach for My Revolver - Mission of Burma

1782      Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann

1781      Black Bottom - Ma Rainey

1780      This Ole House - Rosemary Clooney

1779      Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) - Neil Young

1778      Solid Air - John Martyn

1777      Help Me - Joni Mitchell

1776      Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) - Scritti Politti

1775      She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult

1774      Red - Daniel Merriweather

1773      Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler

1772      Rocks Off - Rolling Stones

1771      I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) - Electric Prunes

1770      XO - Beyonce

1769      Cheap Thrills - SIA

1768      betty - Taylor Swift

1767      Heartbeats - The Knife

1766      Undercover - Kehlani

1765      Laura - Bat for Lashes

1764      Thrift Shop - Macklemore ft Ryan Lewis

1763      Shallow - Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

1762      Roscoe - Midlake

1761      Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn & John

1760      Pull Shapes - Pipettes

1759      Golden Touch - Razorlight

1758      Comin' Up Easy - Paolo Nutini

1757      Eternal Flame - The Bangles

1756      Alive and Kicking - Simple Minds

1755      Ooh La La - Faces

1754      Crazy Horses - The Osmonds

1753      Rasputin - Boney M

1752      Friend of the Devil - Grateful Dead

1751      Aftermath - Tricky

1750      Save the Country - Laura Nyro

1749      Some Velvet Morning - Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra

1748      Floating in the Forth - Frightened Rabbit

1747      Comedy Tonight - Zero Mostel

1746      Germ Free Adolescents - X-Ray Spex

1745      Girl You'll be a Woman Soon - Neil Diamond

1744      Young Americans - David Bowie

1743      One Love - Bob Marley

1742      American Girl - Tom Petty

1741      Jersey Girl - Tom Waits

1740      Good Life - Inner City

1739      Danger High Voltage - Electric Six

1738      Captain Jack Sparrow - The Lonely Island ft Michael Bolton

1737      Staring at the Sun - TV on the Radio

1736      Runaway Train - Soul Asylum

1735      What is Love? - Haddaway

1734      Porcelain - Moby

1733      Brickbat - Billy Bragg

1732      Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind

1731      Fields of Gold - Sting

1730      Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime - The Korgis

1729      All This Useless Beauty - Elvis Costello

1728      Steal My Sunshine - Len

1727      Nelson Mandela - The Special A.K.A.

1726      If you Let Me Stay - Terence Trent D'Arby

1725      Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr

1724      Shot by Both Sides - Magazine

1723      Manic Monday - The Bangles

1722      I Think I Love You - David Cassidy

1721      Waiting Room - Fugazi

1720      Not Ready to Make Nice - The Chicks

1719      Beth/Rest - Bon Iver

1718      For Your Love - Yardbirds

1717      The Wanderer - Dion

1716      We Are the Champions - Queen

1715      Personality Crisis - New York Dolls

1714      Private Dancer - Tina Turner

1713      Manchild - Neneh Cherry

1712      Some Jingle Jangle Morning - Mary Lou Lord

1711      Way Down in the Hole - Tom Waits

1710      The Way it Is - Bruce Hornsby

1709      Fight For Your Right To Party - The Beastie Boys

1708      Your Ghost - Kristina Hersh

1707      The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side - Magnetic Fields

1706      Love and Happiness - Al Green

1705      Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd

1704      bad guy - Billie Eilsh

1703      Ghost - Ella Henderson

1702      Danny Callahan - Conor Oberst

1701      Hoppipola - Sigur Ros

1700      Welcome to Jamrock - Damian Marley

____________

I was thinking about the main dividing lines in musical taste. There are 1000s of small preferences people have, but I was thinking what are the main 50/50s, where you’re taste lies either on one side or the other, and there’s not much you can actively do about it, and they define what you’re into, more than you realise. – you might call then subconscious biases on taste, although sometimes we become very conscious of them, but I think they start as subconscious.

Very important to say, no one is 100 % one and 0% the other, but nor do I really think anyone is quite 50/50. It is also important to say that it is possible to change one’s preference or have it changed, in most of these categorisations, which are

Classical Vs Pop

which kind of stands alone, as then everything else is within “pop”

Pop/Rock

Female vocal/Male vocal

Black/White

Lyric-driven/Music-driven

Synth/Guitar

Electric/Acoustic

Electronica/Rock

Protest/Pop

Instrumental/Vocal

UK/US

Loud/Quiet

Folk/rock

Progressive/Classic … by progressive I don’t mean prog and classic doesn’t necessarily mean classic rock – it’s more like “always wanting the new vs happy with traditional forms and sounds”

Rap/singing

Slow/Fast

Vacuous/Meaningful

Sellout/for real

Passive engagement/Active engagement

There may be others- I wondered if Gay/Straight was a major subconscious distinction when it comes to musical taste, but I would veer on the side of it not being so, and that pushing to being unnecessary stereotyping. [I will get back to this later]

A lot of these, obviously, overlap with each other.

So, of course, if you come down on a different side from someone on all of those, you’ll have very different taste from them and a very different notion of what is a great song.

So, you've probably already given up on this, but there's plenty of good stuff to come.