DISQUS

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

Wow, how have I not heard that version of "Cruel to Be Kind" before now?

WHarrisBullzEye · 12 months ago

That's the original version. Pretty cool, isn't it? Not that there's really a BAD version of the song. I just played this version, though, and Ally burst into a big grin and said, "I really like this song! Is that why you played it?" Well, yes, sweetie, but Daddy really likes it, too. (That's why he wrote it up, after all.)

DwDunphy · 11 months ago

That's off the reissue of Jesus Of Cool, no?

Spence · 12 months ago

Good to see Sowing The Seeds Of Love getting a bit of, er, love. Been on a major TFF kick recently, and that tune is just astonishingly wonderful.

MarlboroTestMonkey7 · 12 months ago

I would replace XTC's Major of Simpleton for King for Day and it's bewildering zinc-chrome video or even Green Man, but otherwise a very good list as expected from Popdose. Also, Tear for Fears rulez!

elbandito · 12 months ago

86...really...everything else can be argued...but "Drop the Pilot"...really...opne of the top 100 singles in the last 100 years...really...

Besides that great list and a lot of fun and a wasted Monday morning...

Thanks for all you do - love this site!!!

rwcass · 12 months ago

Well, technically, it's the top 100 songs of the past 50 years (plus "Jailhouse Rock"). I just want to know how "Disco Duck" got left out.

terje · 12 months ago

I know why. It's because David Foster played on it. Of these songs, Foster didn't play on a single one. I tried to get "Man in Motion" on the list, but I failed miserably. Discrimination!

rwcass · 12 months ago

And where's the Philly soul? Let's retreat to a bar and lick our wounds, Terje.

WHarrisBullzEye · 12 months ago

I think the bigger shock is that we went with Joan Armatrading's version rather than the clearly superior cover by Mandy Moore.

jefito · 12 months ago

#100 on my list was Chuck Mangione's "Feels So Good." Just be happy THAT didn't make the final cut.

Steve · 12 months ago

Some of the writers' comments on the songs reminded me of when I was a 7-year-old in 1971, and I heard Al Green's "Tired Of Being Alone" for the first time. I didn't know what this man was singing about, but I knew he was in pain. Nothing Reverend Al did afterward (and there was certainly some great stuff to follow) ever conveyed this agony which was so simple yet so painful. It's not my all-time favorite song, but it's a very vivid memory.

JonCummings · 12 months ago

The Rev. Al's absence from this list is a crime--and "Tired of Being Alone" is the one I'd pick, too. (In fact, I did--talk to those other bums about why it didn't make the list.)

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

For me, and I mean it sincerely, I can't pick a single Al Green song. When someone asks, I just direct them to Al Green's Greatest Hits and use that trusty bon mot: it's ALL good.

JonCummings · 12 months ago

Oh, don't get me wrong. When I'm jonesing for some Rev. Al, nothing but the whole (expanded) GH CD will do...

ListH8R · 12 months ago

Yeah, "The Mayor of Simpleton" is the 11th greatest song of the past 50 years. Uh-huh.

WHarrisBullzEye · 12 months ago

Say what you will about its placing, but to me, it's one of the greatest testaments to the Podose-iocity of the list; had XTC even managed to make such a list on any other site, it almost certainly would've been with "Dear God."

jefito · 12 months ago

I'm just disappointed we didn't pick "Pink Thing."

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

Never pick your pink thing. It'll get infected.

jefito · 12 months ago

Oh God.

MarlboroTestMonkey7 · 12 months ago

Or blind! or so I've been told.

[this note has been sent using my Braille Blackberry]

mojo · 12 months ago

I just want to give a shout to Medsker (The Great Tabulator) and the the rest for compiling this list. It is imperfect, of course, but it really captures the eqalitarian Popdose ethos.

It also reflects, truly, our collective opinion, which is the shiznit (and few posts truly do--we all are off doing our own thang typically). And the writeups...if the site's readers could have seen this project evolve over a two month period of emails and message-board posts. Magic.

(Although, sadly, Pilot's "Magic" didn't make in in despite my feeling some love in the wake of my message board campaign on its behalf.)

Nice job everyone.

Ken Shane · 12 months ago

Terrific job by everyone involved.

Jerry · 12 months ago

Mayor of Simpleton? Perfect Way? Two Tears for Fears songs? This list is just another reminder why I love this site.

There are probably at least 30 songs on here that would make MY top 100, too.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

And we love folks who love our site. Not carnally, but, y'know...

Okay, maybe carnally.

Juancho · 12 months ago

I like most of the songs here, but HATE Losing My Religion. Whiny lyrics and singing over a boring Am/Em chord progression. And I don't care that they use a mandolin. What am I missing?

JonCummings · 12 months ago

Having been the one to write up "LMR" -- and having put it at #4 on my own list -- let me take a crack at it: This may have been the first REM song that was lyrically complex, emotionally powerful AND truly accessible to the vast pop mainstream, all at once. (Which is not to say their earlier work wasn't brilliant, of course--I'd still stack their first four albums, in particular, against anybody's.) For me it's the second verse that really cinches it: "Consider this, consider this the hint of the century/Consider this the slip that brought me to my knees/What if all these fantasies come flailing around?/And now I've said too much." Few lyrics have ever spoken to this hopeless (in more ways than one) romantic like that one did.

And I do loves me some mandolin.

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

I know this is just begging for trouble, but does anyone want to know what just missed the cut?

jefito · 12 months ago

Yes!

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

Go for it, man. It's like the last 20 hot dogs in the weenie eating contest....

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

All right, here we go.

101) "Dreams," Fleetwood Mac
102) "Brick," Ben Folds Five
103) "Burning Down the House," Talking Heads
104) "Happy," Rolling Stones (swear to God, I'm not sure I've heard this one)
105) "Jack and Diane," John Mellencamp
106) "O.P.P.," Naughty by Nature
107) "Revolution," The Beatles
108) "When a Man Loves a Woman," Percy Sledge
109) "Dancing Queen," ABBA
110) "Distant Sun," Crowded House
111) "Me & Bobby McGee," Janis Joplin
112) "Handle with Care," Traveling Wilburys
113) "The Whole of the Moon," The Waterboys
114) "Hard to Handle," The Black Crowes
115) "There She Goes," The La's
116) "I Second That Emotion," Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
117) "Paranoid Android," Radiohead
118) "I'm Not in Love," 10cc
119) "California Dreaming," The Mamas & the Papas
120) "Walk on the Wild Side," Lou Reed

rwcass · 12 months ago

"Jailhouse Rock," "What'd I Say," and "Take Five" are the oldest songs on the list, and "One," from the last couple months of '91, is the most recent. It would've been interesting to see "Brick" or "Paranoid Android" make the top 100. Nothing from this decade made the list, but that makes sense -- it's going to take a few more years to fully digest 'N Sync's final album.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

Yes. Digest. And everything thereafter.

Malchus · 12 months ago

Springsteen's "The Rising" is from 2002, making it much younger than "One."

rwcass · 12 months ago

Oh yeah! Thanks, Scott.

mojo · 12 months ago

Magic by Pilot didn't even make the top 120? Lord almighty, what is this world coming to?

heh heh.

(Meds, you probably have heard "Happy" but it's one of those muddled Keith Richards lead vocal songs. It's off Exile, it's played on classic rock radio all the time. You knowit, you just don't know that it's Stones because it's weird like that)

KellyStitzel · 12 months ago

I was wondering where my Mac ended up on the list.

EightE1 · 12 months ago

Nice to see the Waterboys on the "Bubbling Under" list, and not forgotten entirely. And "O.P.P." bested "Revolution," Radiohead, and Smokey. Beautiful.

Rob
EightE1

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

Almost nothing from the last ten years even received a vote, never mind multiple votes. A couple of us (me, Mojo) did make a push for the Chemical Brothers, though.

JonCummings · 12 months ago

I'm actually more surprised no one joined me in cramming "Umbrella" onto the list.

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

You and I were the only ones who voted for "Umbrella." And Ms. Davis and I were the only ones who voted for "Hey Ya."

jefito · 12 months ago

I thought long and hard about "Hey Ya," but I still haven't recovered enough from all the times I heard it when it was popular to include it in a list of my favorites.

Amy Davis · 12 months ago

Seriously? That's a funny thing for you (or anyone, really) to have in common with me.

Malchus · 12 months ago

I had at least 10 songs from the past decade in my list. Tegan & Sara, Jeff Buckley, Coldplay, Ryan Adams, Rage, and My Morning Jacket were on my list.

Still, it's a great, great list we have here.

Pete · 12 months ago

I'm curious-what particular Chemical Brothers track? Was just listening to their first album last night...

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

"Block Rockin' Beats," baby! I also had "Setting Sun" at #18 on my list...

Amy Davis · 12 months ago

Having "God Only Knows" at #1 gives this list a lot of credibility, I think, although I'm still trying to get over the lack of female artists. And "Sister Golden Hair" at #28....

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

Aw, come on Mrs. Davis. Will you meet me in the middle?

rwcass · 12 months ago

I'm with you, Amy -- of all of America's hits, "Sister Golden Hair" is at the bottom for me, but I realize it has its fans.

Amy Davis · 12 months ago

There was no America on my list. XTC, Scritti Politti, and even Blue Oyster Cult I can understand....but America?

Seeing Tears for Fears on there warms my heart.

JonCummings · 12 months ago

Apart from "Sister Golden Hair," I agree with you about America's unworthiness. But that sister is just irresistible -- I keep on thinkin' 'bout her. Bah-oom bop-doo-wop.

Old_Davy · 12 months ago

I'm happy to see "Sister Golden Hair" on the list. Yeah, American was pure fluff, but it's hard to deny the magic of SGH. It all just came together on that song.

I loves me XTC, and would have put "Earn Enough For Us" on instead of Simpleton, but that's just me.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

I knew "Sister Golden Hair" was going to be rough sails for some, but I guess not so rough that others on the staff didn't include it in their individual picks too.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

Let me guess - you'd have gone with "Ventura Highway".

I kinda like that song, but the damned "alligator lizards in the air" ruined its chances.

rwcass · 12 months ago

That or "Tin Man." They're more timeless to me than "Sister Golden Hair." Even "You Can Do Magic" ranks higher for me.

EightE1 · 12 months ago

You know darn well "Magic" wasn't going to get in there. Darn well.

Rob
EightE1

rwcass · 12 months ago

Watch your language. This is a family website.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

POPPYCOCK.

Ray · 12 months ago

Count me among the "Sister Golden Hair" despisers... if you have a godawful Lite Rock radio station piped in over you at work every day you'll know what I'm talking about.

"Sister Golden Hair" (along with "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", Brian McKnight's "Back At One" and Lonestar's "Amazed") is a charter member of the LITE ROCK SONGS FROM HELL chart toppers.

rwcass · 12 months ago

That would be a fun list to create: "Top 100 Lite Rock Songs That Are Hard on the Ears." Lite-rock stations hold a special place in my heart, but they play some songs into the ground. Ray, let's add All-4-One's "I Swear" to the list.

Paul · 12 months ago

Ray, add Dan Hartman's "I Can Dream About You" to the LITE ROCK SONGS FROM HELL.

Malchus · 12 months ago

If you were to create a mix tape, you can't get much better than "What's Going On" into "Imagine" into "Dock of the Bay" and finishing things up with "Change Gonna Come."

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

I agree.

Old_Davy · 12 months ago

Your pick of "Only Living Boy In New York" surprised me. I've probably played the "Bridge Over Troubled Water" album hundreds of times, but it was only about 3 years ago that OLBINY finally kicked my ass. It quickly became my favorite S&G song. Was it a hit single? I guess it was overshadowed by the title track and "The Boxer" (and "Cecilia", "El Condor Pasa", "Baby Driver", "Bye Bye Love", etc.)

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

I don't know if it was a bona fide hit but it certainly was released as a single. The whole album is brilliant, and there are artists who must look at it as a major source of envy that it could be so perfect straight through, but there's something more about "Only Living Boy" It is very much an extension of the Bookends album in tone and portent.

JonCummings · 12 months ago

Shhhhh! The dirty little secret here is that something like half a dozen of these tracks were never "singles" -- and, in fact, "Only Living Boy" is probably the farthest thing FROM a single on the list, because it never got much play at radio (unlike, say, Van's "Into the Mystic."

But then, when your #1 song on the list is a B-side ("God Only Knows" was the flip of "Wouldn't It Be Nice")...

"Only Living Boy" got considerable love amongst the panel. I had it at #15 myself.

JonCummings · 12 months ago

Actually -- and I didn't know this until just now -- "Only Living Boy" was the B-side of "Cecilia," though it didn't chart. ("God Only Knows" and several other B-sides on our list did chart on their own.)

Malchus · 12 months ago

Well, I seem to recall very early conversations about this project and that we were picking our favorite songs. Somewhere along the line, it turned into songs that were singles, but I'd already done my list.

mojo · 12 months ago

"Rush Rush" isn't ranked in the 50s here, as it was on the Billboard list.

Just that fact alone makes all our other arguments are trifles!!! Imperfection, in small doses, is gorgeous in comparison. Heidi Klum would refer to it as "Popdose Style."

EightE1 · 12 months ago

The #87 and #88 juxtaposition is a fitting and somewhat familiar one for me -- just a couple days after 9/11, I was driving somewhere with WXPN on in the car, and Michaela Majoun played the Costello track, followed by S&G, and it was just a moment that clicked, on so many levels -- an exhortation, then a prayer; a moment of frustration followed by a moment of peace. Since then, I've been unable to hear one without thinking of the other. The order is reversed here, but it's kinda cool to see them next to one another again.

Rob
EightE1

JonCummings · 12 months ago

Well, having seen the new Stephen Colbert Christmas special, I'll never think about "Peace, Love and Understanding" the same way again.

drcastrato · 12 months ago

You guys, specifically David I guess,
Can you explain the voting process and how the list was created from everyone's votes? Was it simply a tally of how many times a song appeared on the individual lists, or was there any kind of weighting given based on where in a particular list a song was ranked?

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

They were weighted. #1 votes were worth 100 points, #2 songs 99, etc.

drcastrato · 12 months ago

That's good. I may be asking too much here, but I'd be interested to also see the amount of points each song got, just to see how close some of the positions are. And also, how many #1 votes each song got, and all the #1's that didn't make the list, like Steed's.

It's really surprising, some of the songs that did made the list, and some ones I would think might make it but did not. No "Louie Louie." No "You Really Got Me." No "Just Like Heaven" or "Stairway to Heaven."

I wonder if, in a situation like this, certain artists with multiple hits lose out when different listmakers each has their own favorite. There are some big name artists who don't appear anywhere, yet Scritti Politti and The Kings and Joan Armatrading? Maybe those artists benefit from being a little more obscure with fewer singles to divide the vote. Or it's collusion within the Popdose ranks... :)

Anyway, I enjoyed the list. Thanks all.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

I like "You Really Got Me" because I'm a huge Kinks fan, but I'm of the belief that their greatest songs never were hits. Their best were these sentimental things that were album cuts, pointed lyrics and all. Having said that, I did put in a vote for "Celluloid Heroes."

And every 4th of July when rock radio does their countdown thing, friggin' "Stairway To Heaven" always, always, always wins. If we somehow wound up following the lead of horribly lame rock radio, I'd need to get (back) on Prozac, I just know it.

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

I am reluctant to show the final tallies, but I assure you there was no collusion. Otherwise, I would have made sure that "How Soon Is Now?" (my #1 song), "I'm Not in Love," "The Air That I Breathe" and "Year of the Cat" all made the final list.

I also would have made sure "Big Time" did not make the final cut. :)

steed · 12 months ago

Jesus. What'd I have, like 5 of these songs in my Top 100? My #1 track of all time - Howard Jones' "No One Is To Blame" didn't even make Top 120. And I like "Chinese Democracy." Man, I am the black sheep of the popdose family for sure.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

Steed, Steed, Steed... What in the world are we gonna do with you? Mark my words on Chinese Democracy when, after a couple weeks, the buyer's remorse begins.

DavidMedsker · 12 months ago

I only had 11 songs in the final list, if that makes you feel any better.

JonCummings · 12 months ago

I had 21 -- but not my #1 or 6 of my top 10. I wonder who had the MOST compatibility?

terje · 12 months ago

Had to count: I had 28, and 8 of my top 10 were on the list. 4 of my top 10 songs were also in the final top 10. Pretty compatible, no? I feel generic.

Malchus · 12 months ago

I had 14.

KellyStitzel · 12 months ago

24 of mine made the final cut.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

I'd like mine with a whole lotta lumps. A whoooollle lotta lumps!

DavidRagland · 12 months ago

I also would have included some Howard Jones. Good choices overall, though.

breadalbane · 12 months ago

Lists like this are always fun, especially some of the less obvious choices. Big, big kudos to those who put their votes in for Armatrading, Joe Jackson, The Kings, Dave Brubeck, etc. And it's always interesting to see the arguments in favour of songs I can't stand. (That'd be Def Heffer and Guns 'n' Neuroses.) But that's all part of the game, right? Of *course* I'm going to disagree with certain aspects of the list, as is everyone who reads it. Hell, even the people who compiled the list disagree with some of it...

That being said, you can count me as one for whom the adulation for Brian Wilson has always been completely baffling. I have never -- repeat, never -- heard a Beach Boys or Brian Wilson solo song that I didn't find at least faintly embarrassing. Or cringe-inducing. Wilson obviously strikes a chord with a lot of people, but whatever it is, I can't hear it. (Although I will admit that "God Only Knows" is somewhat less irritating than many other Beach Boys hits.)

Oh, one other thing -- I thought the idea that a single had to make the US Hot 100 in order to qualify for this list was kinda silly. To me, one of the chief selling points of Popdose is its conviction that good music can be found both on and off the charts. Maybe next year, the 100 best "non-hit" singles?

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

It was mostly a necessity so that DM didn't nip off and shoot himself midway through the process. By attempting to focus on hits, we aced out any possibility of one writer trying to out-hip another with the most obscure Christian Krautrock Gregorian Chant Trance tune we could find.

And besides, we still broke the rules and threw in heaps of non-hits anyway. Why? Because we're gringos, that's why.

jefito · 12 months ago

Yeah, if we hadn't tried sticking to singles, there wouldn't have been any kind of consensus. Putting the list together was involved enough as it was.

Jeff Gee · 12 months ago

I can't get the "Thank You (forletinmebe mice elf)" file to open. it's okay, I remember it pretty well. But think of the children!

Jeff K. · 12 months ago

The link for Simon & Garfunkel, “The Only Living Boy in New York” plays Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire!

But otherwise, it's a great entry. Thanks.

TAFKAP · 12 months ago

Great list. It was cool to see Sam Cooke's classic in the top ten and the LL Cool J entry for "Mama Said Knock You Out" was inspired. I remember when he performed this live way back in the early days of MTV Unplugged. One of the most powerful performances I've seen.

Anyway, thought I'd mentioned some tunes that may have gotten lost in the shuffle (no particular order).

"Sexy M.F." - Prince. Funk literature.

"Son Of A Preacher Man" - Dusty Springfield. Hard to believe this pop classic didn't make the cut.

"The Payback" - James Brown. One of the edgiest, funk tracks ever recorded and perhaps the most sampled song in rap.

"So What" - Miles Davis. Ok, it's not pop per se and I doubt it charted in the top 100 at the time of release but as the signature cut from Kind Of Blue, it is instantly recognizable as too cool for words.

"Nothing Compares 2 U" - Sinead O'Connor. This Prince-penned song was originally recorded by an offshoot group called the Family but Sinead gave the song its heartbreaking depth.

"I Can't Make You Love Me" - Bonnie Raitt. One of the all-time torch songs best heard in a live setting.

"Giving You The Best That I Got" - Anita Baker. This well-written declaration of commitment without an ounce of syrup continues to age well.

"That's Just What You Are" - Aimee Mann. Infectious, kiss-off ear candy from one of the most underrated tunesmiths around.

"Waterfalls" - TLC. The R&B trio worked in a deft AIDS commentary into this groovy track, one of the great singles from the 1994 album CrazySexyCool.

"Pink Houses" - John Mellencamp. A vivid, rousing slice of Americana without being cloyingly patriotic.

"Fallin'" - Alicia Keys. The arrival of a significant talent in R&B. I don't know if she's put it all together yet for a great album but give her time. The promise of this track and her stirring cover of "Someday We'll All Be Free" at the 9/11 concert bodes well for the future.

"Silent All These Years" - Tori Amos. Few songs give me chills but this was one of them when I first heard it back in the early '90s. A very memorable breakthrough for this artist.

Have a great Turkey Day everybody.

TAFKAP

EightE1 · 12 months ago

TAFKAP bringin' the Prince-penned stuff up front, from the ol' mental archives (the Diminutive One's three percent share of the countdown apparently wuzn't enuff). You never let me down, old pal (speaking of "Never Let Me Down," I could've done with some more Bowie, but that's just me).

Your post brings up a good point -- why have we never been blessed with an officially released version of that LL Cool J unplugged set? Every fart Rod Stewart and Clapton let loose during THEIR shows has managed to waft into the marketplace in some form or another, but that incendiary "Mama Said ..." is left solely to the memory. Life is unfair.

Gobble-gobble, y'all.

Rob
EightE1

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

I was looking over Bowie's hits, and call it myopia, but he actually has very few statistically. We remember them as hits retroactively more than they were, at least on the American charts. It's not a bad position to be in, that regardless of where your song stopped in rankings people think they went much higher.

His biggest hit is obviously "Let's Dance" which, while being a great single, is nowhere near his best work in my opinion.

EightE1 · 12 months ago

I guess you're right. It really is a matter of opinion (and debate and friendly conversation), but to think the 100 favorites of the last 50 years doesn't include at least "Changes" or "Rebel Rebel" or "Heroes" ...

TAFKAP and I go back a ways. We've had a 17-year running argument over the second Tin Machine record (which I liked, so you can tell where MY head's at). Hey, TAFKAP -- I still gotcher review copy of that one, BEE-YOTCH!

Rob
EightE1

DwDunphy · 11 months ago

Is it just me or didn't the Sales Bros. get a couple good tunes on TM2 also? I still like to crank up "Stateside" from time to time, when White Fang isn't watching.

EightE1 · 11 months ago

"One Shot" is one of the handful of tracks that never leaves my iPod (I have an 8-gigger, so I rotate things on and off pretty regularly). That one should be on classic rock radio's regular rotation.

The Sales brothers get a bum rap, but they were the right rhythm section for that band. Reeves Gabrels could be a bit heavy-handed, but overall I like those records. They're different, and God knows they're not on par with Ziggy or Aladdin Sane or the Berlin albums, but I think they get shit on unfairly.

Rob
EightE1

DwDunphy · 11 months ago

It's true. They will never get beyond the ever-present shadow of the Spiders From Mars, but Tin Machine was doomed from the start. In typical Bowie fashion, he did the unthinkable and became a member of a band - not the leader, or defacto dictator but an actual member. Because of that being such a weird notion to people, the concept of the superstar "bowing down" like that, Tin Machine was always going to be viewed as a two-headed baby.

Jesper · 11 months ago

Speaking of "Never Let Me Down", I'd have put Depeche Mode and that song in my Top 100.

I also think Rufus & Chaka Khan's Ain't Nobody would have fitted in nicely.

And I know we're only talking singles so that excludes a lot of Prince's best work in my opinion. Beautiful Ones anyone?

Great list though!

DavidMedsker · 11 months ago

Depeche Mode received next to no love by the staff. "Personal Jesus" and "Master and Servant" (my pick) were the only ones to receive votes.

DwDunphy · 11 months ago

I was surprised my pick of "Tell Me Something Good" didn't get as much traction, but that's the beauty of this list. Show me another list that honestly is this left-of-center.

DwDunphy · 12 months ago

Of the Prince stuff, "Sexy M.F." just doesn't resonate. "Diamonds And Pearls"? Love it. "Sexy M.F."? I just don't think it would have survived the cut.

I'm kinda surprised Dusty didn't make it. I believe I put a vote in for "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" though.

EightE1 · 12 months ago

"The Look of Love" would've been my Dusty selection. Can't go wrong with her stuff from that period.

Um ... and I'll let you in on a little something. If TAFKAP were president, not only would Bonnie Raitt have a cabinet position, but "Sexy M.F." would be the national anthem. Imagine Lee Greenwood singing THAT at a NASCAR race ...

Rob
EightE1

DwDunphy · 11 months ago

It'd have to be better than "God Bless The USA" for the tri-zillionth time.

steed · 12 months ago

"Sexy M.F." if I'm not mistaken, was in my top 5 or at least Top 10 so I have to agree with TAFKAP here. Personally, I think that's Prince's best song, off his best album.

I would have loved to have seen my choice of "Got Your Money" by ODB make the cut. Now that's a rap song!

TAFKAP · 11 months ago

Rob,

Your comments made me chuckle. Bonnie for a cabinet position! We could do worse (see the Bush administration).

In regard to Prince, I thought all the three singles chosen for the list were right on. I just would have tried to work in "Sexy M.F." somewhere in that mix. In regard to his best album, though, his masterwork was "Sign 'O The Times" without question. An eclectic treasure.

TAFKAP

michaelscass · 11 months ago

A bit of an unorthodox list, with the Beatles' first entry falling in 17 spots behind Queen's (!), but I am truly impressed (no irony here, I promise) by "The Mayor of Simpleton" being at No. 11. What a song! I'm glad you guys recognized its brilliance. Thanks for putting this together.

Bob · 11 months ago

Agreed on both counts, Michael.

The problem with the Beatles is that since they have so many universally great songs, it's nearly impossible to pick just one that stands head-and-shoulders over everything else they've done. It's much easier to do for a one-hit-wonder (e.g. The Hues Corporation).

Bob · 11 months ago

Excellent list, guys! I think that the songs being your "favorites" -- as opposed to "the best", or "greatest", or "most important" -- is what sets it apart.

Kudos on including artists not normally seen on these lists, such as XTC, Crowded House, Nick Lowe, The Hues Corporation, The Kings, and McD(oobies).

As far as omissions go, I'll echo what others said about Dusty Springfield and Al Green -- how did that happen? I was also surprised that there were no Righteous Brothers, Kinks, The Who, Led Zep, or Eagles.

And lastly, some personal "favorites" I'd have gotten a kick seeing on the list:

• "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty
• "The Logical Song" by Supertramp
• "Surrender" by Cheap Trick
• "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor
• "Remember" by the Shangri-Las
• "Tempted" or "Black Coffee In Bed" by Squeeze
• "Shelter" by Lone Justice
• "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains Of Wayne
• "Everlasting Love" by Carl Carlton
• "Pressure Drop" by Toots & The Maytals

autodidact · 11 months ago

No Steely Dan. No Frank Sinatra. Not even Led Zeppelin? I'm shocked. Shocked and stunned, and I'm not even a big Zeppelin fan. By the way, normally I am a fan of what most people would call overproduction (as long as it isn't massive production for its own sake), but for some reason Don't Dream It's Over always seemed insubstantial to me until the polished sheen was stripped off the song by Neil Finn and his smallish band in his performance on the old PBS series "Sessions @ West 54th."

blakefromouterspace · 11 months ago

I know there are multiple caveat's right up front. I know that these lists are great opportunities for spirited discussion of inclusions and omissions. I know my prevailing impression of Popdosers is as the college radio music directors who tried to sell me on the Jazz Butcher in 1989. However you've got come clean when you poop in the punchbowl!

Sister Golden Hair? Someone has to expand on their case for that. The best America song, Horse with No Name, sucks rocks, and "Sister Golden Hair" can't even hold Ventura Highway's jock.