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[lunarworks]

LOLWUT ? Couldn't get more pop than this in the 90's :

Oh god, one of the horrible facets of the '90s I don't want to go back to, PUT IT AWAY.

 

[ViperVisor]

"enduring beauty, power and inventiveness"

They took time and actually did a write up for all the songs and still fuck it up bad like one thrown together by someone on Amazon.com?

They slob all over the 70s but no Earth, Wind & Fire - September?

 

[Fusebox]

So this is all a bit crap, They've confused 'pop' as in popular with 'pop' the music genre.

Sure Nirvana are popular but it doesn't make them fucking pop.

Now THAT'S pop.

 

[zero_suit]

They slob all over the 70s but no Earth, Wind & Fire - September?

Indeed, WTF?

I'm glad Janelle is on there, though.

 

[Satch]

delicious delicious lack of rihanna

 

[Monocle]

They need to state their definition of "pop" before they create another list.

 

[Pickles the Firecat]

Oh, come on. 2/3 of the songs are hip-hop. You know I wasn't implying literally every song created in that decade was hip-hop.

What? Look at that list again:

Missy Elliott - "Get Ur Freak On"
Outkast - "Hey Ya!"
Jay Z - "99 Problems"
Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Kanye West (featuring Jamie Foxx) - "Gold Digger"
Lil Wayne - "Georgia... Bush"
LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"
Beyonce - "Single Ladies"
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"

The bolded are not hip-hop, unless you have some bizarrely loose definition in which Single Ladies and Hey Ya fit in. That's 5 out of 9 songs.

Anyway, can't complain about the list overall. Looks like it covers most of the bases and paints a solid, broad picture of music since the 20s.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

2000s
Outkast - "Hey Ya!" - Good choice. They'll be playing this on the easy listening stations in ten years' time.
Kanye West (featuring Jamie Foxx) - "Gold Digger" - Again, good choice
Beyonce - "Single Ladies" - Trust me, high school reunions circa 2028 are going to bust this song out so damn hard.
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance" - I would've gone with Poker Face, personally.

1990s
Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Technically not pop. But whatever.

1980s
Michael Jackson - "Billie Jean" - This could have been basically anything on Thriller and it would have worked. It appears that each artist only gets one nomination, otherwise the 80s list would be all MJ all the time.
Prince - "Kiss" - Cream, Purple Rain, Strawberry Beret or Little Red Corvette are all better.
Madonna - "Borderline" - wat. Borderline over Material Girl, Like a Virgin, Like a Prayer and Spanish Lullaby?

1970s
James Brown - "Sex Machine" - Yes.
Stevie Wonder - "Superstition" - Yes.
Queen - "Boehemian Rhapsody" - Hell yes.
Bee Gees - "Stayin' Alive" - Got a ton of backlash in the early 80s, but it's still a triumph of human achievement.
Parliament/Funkadelic - "One Nation Under a Groove" - Yes. Very surprised to see a Parliament song nominated.

1960s
The Ronettes - "Be My Baby" - Yes
The Beatles - "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" - I'd have gone with Come Together, personally.
The Supremes - "Where Did Our Love Go?" - I prefer Baby Love
The Beach Boys - "God Only Knows" - I know better than to cross Beach Boys fanboys on this forum. I've learnt my lesson.
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - Not Sexual Healing? WTF?
Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back" - Yes
Otis Redding - "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)" - I prefer Try a Little Tenderness

1950s
Johnny Cash - "Folsom Prison Blues" - Yep
Elvis Presley - "Jailhouse Rock" - Yep (though a few songs could work here)
Little Richard - "Tutti Frutti" - Filthy, filthy song.
Frank Sinatra - "I've Got You Under My Skin" - Yep
Buddy Holly - "That'll Be the Day" - Yep
Chuck Berry - "Johnny B. Goode" - Yep
Ray Charles - "What'd I Say" - Can't argue with this one.

1940s
The Andrews Sisters - "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
Bing Crosby - "White Christmas"
Betty Hutton - "It Had to Be You" - Can't argue with any of these.

1930s
Duke Ellington - "It Dont Mean A Thing (If It Aint Got That Swing)"
Louis Armstrong - "Star Dust"
Fred Astaire - "Check to Cheek"
Judy Garland - "Over the Rainbow" - I had no clue these songs were this old.

Egregious omissions:

Eagles - Hotel California
Divinyls - I Touch Myself
Dusty Springfield - I Only Wanna Be With You
Usher - Caught Up
Maroon 5 - This Love

 

[Huevos de Oro]

Is this list trying to tell me that Master of Puppets was a more popular song in 1986 than this?

Rofl.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

so if they mean popular songs why are a lot of 1 singles (specially from the 60s) missing in action?

 

[billy beane]

Is this list trying to tell me that Master of Puppets was a more popular song in 1986 than this?

Rofl.

It's certainly a better song.

 

[Conciliator]

Man, heck of a list! Impressed by how many recent songs they included, and really impressed by how much pre-Beatles stuff is included(the standard Rolling Stones canon would throw a couple bones to Woody Guthrie and Chuck Berry and call it a day). Also a strong showing for hip-hop, all considered. I could nitpick all day of course('Heart of Glass' or 'Hungry Like the Wolf' would be nice, and they really couldn't fit 'Wish You Were Here' in there?), but it's a list of great songs from a variety of eras and genres.

 

[Huevos de Oro]

It's certainly a better song.

And I wouldn't dare argue otherwise, it's just that the reasoning behind the list seems to make no sense under any perspective.

 

[789shadow]

The Who is not fucking pop.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

The Who is not fucking pop.

Over half that list is not fucking pop.

 

[Oozer3993]

The list is pretty damn good. Aside from the lack of Since U Been Gone and Toxic. And the inclusion of the atrociousness that is Single Ladies.

 

[billy beane]

And I wouldn't dare argue otherwise, it's just that the reasoning behind the list seems to make no sense under any perspective.

They're basing the list on quality, hence the greatest in the title. It isn't the "100 Most Popular Pop Songs".

Also, Pop as a definition of music is so subjective to define, so I have no problems with them bending a little.

 

[Pickles the Firecat]

And I wouldn't dare argue otherwise, it's just that the reasoning behind the list seems to make no sense under any perspective.

It's just a list of what they feel are the best popular songs between 1920 and 2010. Pretty straightforward and simple. Their list fits the logic of that criteria pretty well, too.

Our critics pick the most extraordinary English-language pop recordings since the beginning of TIME magazine in 1923. Here are 100 (unranked) songs of enduring beauty, power and inventiveness

 

[thebeeks]

Fuck yeah Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Minnie the Moocher.
Also, Der Führer's Face is way overrated. I love the cartoon and all, but damn.

 

[Acerac]

Michael Jackson should probably have more than one song on a list of greatest pop songs of all time I think?

 

[Tom Penny]

" rap is not pop if you call it that than stop "

 

[Conciliator]

Couple things:

-This is not a list of the most popular songs, for anyone unclear on that, it's just songs released as singles that a handful of people in a boardroom at Time think are the best ones.

-'Pop' is not a deregatory term. You guys picked this up somewhere between The Classic Rock Mythos and grunge music; it's a bad way to live your life. Any song you can yell your lungs out and pump your fists to while driving recklessly down the interstate with your buddies is a pop song, including(and especially) 'Baba O' Riley', which is one of the best pop songs in the universe.

 

[T.M. MacReady]

Call me old fashioned, but to see The Four Seasons excluded from this list is the biggest surprise to me. No "Sherry", "Walk like a Man", "Big Girls Don't Cry", or "Rag Doll"? No love for Frankie Valli- "Can't take my eyes off you"?

 

[billy beane]

Alright, here's the definition of Pop Music in my Pop Music History textbook:

Music that appeals to a mass audience, is intended to have wide appeal, and has a sound a style distinct from classical or folk.

So by this definition, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and The Who are Pop Music.

 

[Conciliator]

" rap is not pop if you call it that than stop "

That's a better Tribe Called Quest song than 'Scenario' incidentally, but I don't think it was released as a single. Also, music industry rule #4080!

 

[nns3d]

I think it's a good list overall.

 

[Lord_Byron28]

Couple things:

-This is not a list of the most popular songs, for anyone unclear on that, it's just songs released as singles that a handful of people in a boardroom at Time think are the best ones.

-'Pop' is not a deregatory term. You guys picked this up somewhere between The Classic Rock Mythos and grunge music; it's a bad way to live your life. Any song you can yell your lungs out and pump your fists to while driving recklessly down the interstate with your buddies is a pop song, including(and especially) 'Baba O' Riley', which is one of the best pop songs in the universe.

Agreed.

Time's decisions are just plain weird though. I could've seen them say use "pop" its original meaning popular songs instead of refering to a specific sound like most posters in here are looking for. However, then they go and throw in oddballs that were never popular and were fairly niche.

 

[Fusebox]

Alright, here's the definition of Pop Music in my Pop Music History textbook:

So by this definition, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and The Who are Pop Music.

Depends, I'd take issue with your suggestion that Metallica were "intended to have mass appeal".

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Call me old fashioned, but to see The Four Seasons excluded from this list is the biggest surprise to me. No "Sherry", "Walk like a Man", "Big Girls Don't Cry", or "Rag Doll"? No love for Frankie Valli- "Can't take my eyes off you"?

Frankie Valli had a better song in My Eyes Adored You. Also, Harry Nilsen's Can't Live if Living is Without You and Santa Esmeralda's You're My Everything are missing too.

 

[Conciliator]

I think it's just their picks for released singles. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[Tom Penny]

That's a better Tribe Called Quest song than 'Scenario' incidentally, but I don't think it was released as a single. Also, music industry rule #4080!

U see the documentary. Really explains why the albums after Mindnight Maurauders IMO were horrible.

 

[Conciliator]

Depends, I'd take issue with your suggestion that Metallica were "intended to have mass appeal".

You could make an argument for Metallica's intention, but Metallica is undeniable a band with a gargantuan mass appeal.

 

[Lord_Byron28]

It's just a list of what they feel are the best popular songs between 1920 and 2010. Pretty straightforward and simple. Their list fits the logic of that criteria pretty well, too.

I can agree with that but then again we have songs like Tightrope which I've never heard in my life.

 

[T.M. MacReady]

Frankie Valli had a better song in My Eyes Adored You. Also, Harry Nilsen's Can't Live if Living is Without You and Santa Esmeralda's You're My Everything are missing too.

All good tunes. No argument. Just shocked to see Frankie and the Four Seasons completely absent. "Sherry" is a classic pop song, it deserves the recognition. But whatever, that's what lists are for, to cause debate.

 

[Conciliator]

U see the documentary. Really explains why the albums after Mindnight Maurauders IMO were horrible.

I've honestly never even heard those last two albums. I'm a big enough hip hop fan to dip into the canon, but not big enough to go past it.

 

[ViperVisor]

December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)

that was something I thought too.


Monster Mash should also be on the list.

 

[T.M. MacReady]

December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)

that was something I thought too.


Monster Mash should also be on the list.

Damn, I forgot that one too. No love for the Four Seasons. Ridiculous.

 

[Deleted member 81567]

Pretty bad list.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

All good tunes. No argument. Just shocked to see Frankie and the Four Seasons completely absent. "Sherry" is a classic pop song, it deserves the recognition. But whatever, that's what lists are for, to cause debate.

The good news is that I’m now playing Divinyl’s greatest song on loop on my iPod. The lyrics are so damn filthy, but so very evocative.

 

[GoutPatrol]

Damn, I forgot that one too. No love for the Four Seasons. Ridiculous.

Not ridiculous. Trying to sum up the early 60s boy group/girl group sound, they went with Be My Baby. Most people would make that choice.

And counting it now, there are only around 30 songs in this list by women. And when I first looked at the list one of my first thoughts was "wow, this list has alot of women on it!" Ingrained patriarchy I suppose.

 

[billy beane]

Also, that wouldn't be my first choice for a Prince song. Kiss is a good song, but there are so many better songs. Like all of Purple Rain.

 

[Appleman]

Semi-shocked that Lose Yourself didn't make the list considering the other 2000s songs that are here...