Greatest pop song ever?

[Jean Louise Finch]

I've had a recent revival of appreciation for the art of solid pop music. My choice for the greatest pop song ever is somewhat controversial:

"Manic Monday" by the Bangles. Great lyrics, catchy melody, rings true, has the funny 80s break, but also has that intangible something that makes a good pop song transcendental.

Flame away! (or just nicely add your own picks)

[arwalden]

1. Car Wash -- Rose Royce

[Lone Pawn]

2. Good Vibrations

Beach Boys, not Marky Mark ;)

[Jean Louise Finch]

4. Oh, thank goodness

I heard that terrible screeching in my head before I read the text of your message.

[ecstatic]

16. LOL

At the Marky Mark reference...but were the Beach Boys really considered pop artists?

[curse10]

27. of course the Beach Boys are pop artists

they are just very good ones.

Pop doesn't necessarily mean bad music.

[Guaranteed]

3. Something from Madonna, probably...?

Maybe "Like a Virgin," even though I think she has some much catchier songs...

[Jean Louise Finch]

10. Like a Prayer

is definitely in my top 5. There's a horrifying music video out there somwhere of me and my roommates belting that one out.

Yikes.

[Fenris]

5. "Panic" by the Smiths

An anti-pop pop song.

[Dora]

46. oh, hang the dj eom

[CO Liberal]

6. "Rock Around the Clock" - Bill Hailey & The Comets (1955)

Pretty much started it all.....

[JanMichael]

7. Tempted by Squeeze.

?

[Rowdyboy]

8. The Knack "My Sharona"

[Thurston Howell IV]

12. Smells Like Teen Spirit

Kurt Cobain said Nirvana was just an updated version of the Knack.

[jandrok]

49. More like an updated version of Boston

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" has the same riff as "More Than a Feeling"...

I think Cobain even references this on the new box set in the intro to "Smells....."

[tjdee]

9. Off the Wall, Stayin' Alive...Night Fever...Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

Michael Jackson, was, after all, the King of Pop. :)
Anything off this album is poppy greatness:


Thriller's got some good pop songs too.


And the Bee Gees in the 70s...just rocked.

[curse10]

11. "take me out"- franz ferdinand, "here comes your man"- the pixies

maybe something by the Beach Boys.

[Thurston Howell IV]

13. If the Pixies are pop

then I'd go with "Waves of Mutilation."

[Erika]

14. Hotel California

followed by Hey Jude, the Beatles.

[Guaranteed]

15. Yeah, definitely Hotel California. nt

[Floogeldy]

17. Somebody needs to define "Pop"

[CO Liberal]

19. "Pop" Is What My Kids Called My Father

It was easier than "Grampa".

[curse10]

26. pop can cover nearly any genre of popular music

hence, "pop"

There are pop country songs, pop r&b songs, pop death metal songs, etc...

But, the perfect pop song can transcend being pigeonholed into their genre. Even people that ONLY list to death metal will tolerate this song being on the radio.

[Lex]

18. "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes or

"She Loves You" by the Beatles

Best Pop Songs Ever.

[NightTrain]

20. By "pop," I assume that you mean non-rock, non-R&B, non-country, non-jazz.

In which case, I'll pick the immensely popular "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby. Not one of my personal favorites, but I can't dany that's it's a pop-music Goliath!

[ecstatic]

21. Anything by Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston in the 80s

Sorry I can't pin it down to just one song because it was before my time.

[Boswells_Johnson]

22. Veronica--Elvis Costello

[mtnsnake]

23. If not Good Vibrations, then Bohemian Rhapsody or

Suite Judy Blue Eyes or Satisfaction all could get my vote

[mark414]

24. Primal Scream "Movin On Up"

[Must_B_Free]

25. Good Lovin'

Cause you GOT to have love.

[Oddly Stevenson]

28. A Few Candidates

I Got You- Split Enz
Tempted- Squeeze
Hard Day's Night- The Beatles

[kariatari]

29. "Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison

Nothing even comes close.

[TroubleMan]

30. Billy Jean - Michael Jackson

They didn't call him the King of Pop for nothing.

[Z_I_Peevey]

31. Walkin on Sunshine by Katrina & the Waves

It's the poppiest pop that ever popped.

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

32. "Partynummer"

By Einsturzende Neubauten. Industrial rhythm band version of pop.

"Ah hey hey!"


Actually, that's probably a piss-take of an answer. My reflexive response was that one song, the name of which always seems to elude me, by the Ronettes.

[enigmatic]

33. 3 songs:

"Radiation Vibe"- Fountains Of Wayne

"Shake Some Action"- Flamin' Groovies

"Hyacinth Girl"- Winter Hours

and an Honorable Mention:

"When You Make Up Your Mind"- Gutterball

[Turn CO Blue]

34. Rosanna by Toto

[maveric]

35. "Joy to the World", by Three Dog Night

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog...."

[mitchum]

36. "Waterloo Sunset" or "Be My Baby" or "On Some Faraway Beach"

Davies, Spector, and Eno have to share the honor

[SKKY]

37. I love Rock 'n Roll - Joan Jett

I'm sorry folks, but even to this day, that song is still an ass-kicker. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, it's the only song to be #1 on the Billboard top 100 twice and not in the same year (i.e. #1 one week, #2 the next, then #1 again). Some of my other favorites....


2. "The Relfex" - Duran Duran
3. "Pride (In the name of love) - U2
4. "La Flaca" - Jarabe de Palo
5. "Closer" - Nine Inch Nails

[u4ic]

38. Come on Eileen

very catchy and boppy

[Ron Green]

39. Go back a few years, and you have your pick of the greatest songs ever.

"Stardust" was a pop song. So was "Night and Day." Nothing written since the days when swing music WAS popular music can compare with the pop songs of Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, etc. I mean, the Beatles? C'mon, it's embarrassing to put them in the same category of "pop song" as the aforementioned.

[Lone Pawn]

41. Embarassing for who? Cole Porter?

I agree with Gershwin, but what the Beatles did was as impressive as the best of the swing era, if not more so. It's just that so much of what they did has been incorporated body and soul into so much of modern music, that much of it is lost--and even then, it's still damn good music.

[Ron Green]

52. I'd have to make a long-term wager that 50 years from now, little of the

Beatles' music (possibly "Yesterday" and "Michelle" as exceptions) will be in play, whereas the songs of the pop masters of the '30s will still be heard, newly arranged and performed on stages, not just in elevators.

But it would be a long-term bet indeed.

[bloodyjack]

40. "Thriller"

[Phillycat]

42. "Tempted" by Squeeze

[dean_dem]

43. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" Joy Division

They weren't "pop" in the popular sense, but in the sense of a short, catchy, v-c-v song with a memorable hook, it was perfect pop.

[Bertha Venation]

44. You Light Up My Life. You Needed Me. Having My Baby.

I'm All Out Of Love.

I'm kidding.

I think it's gotta be something by the Carpenters. How about "Rainy Days and Mondays?"

[Deja Q]

45. Walk Like an Egyptian - also by the Bangles. (with pic!)

great group, that.


The 2nd from the right is actually good looking and you know what she wants to do with that coyly raised finger... O8)

[ProfessorGAC]

47. Superstitious - Stevie Wonder, Talking Book

Best 3 and half minute song ever! And, i'm as big a Beatles fan as there is. But, Stevie's song is A#1.

Also, i would like to put in a nomination in my top 5 for "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears for Fears. The song is cool, the words are great, it's melodic, it's produced great, has layers, good guitar work, everything.

That's my wife's favorite song ever.
The Professor

[Donkeyboy75]

50. Superstitious

Nice call, prof. :thumbsup:

[ZoCrowes]

51. Superstitious?

I don't know a song by that name. Stevie Wonder does have a great song called Superstition though :-D

Sorry Prof just had to be an ass lol

[jandrok]

48. Either this or "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

In My Life

By John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Sung by John and Paul - George Martin on piano
1966

There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone, and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one, compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love, as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things, that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more

(solo)

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things, that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more

In my life, I love you more

[NoSheep]

53. Love Shack!

[Zomby Woof]

54. "Train In Vain" - The Clash

I never get tired of it. A brilliant closer to a perfect album.