https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/
new top 500 songs list, significantly improved on representation of black artists but still a deeply goofy list in typical rs fashion. "royals" at 30 lmao & did the elton john biopic drastically inflate his critical standing or something?
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 13:36 (two years ago) link
lmao "dynamite" made it there surely can't be anything more embarrassing than that
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 13:39 (two years ago) link
most 'lol modern rolling stone' pick is harry styles though
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 13:44 (two years ago) link
I both get the urge to ensure the last ~10-15 years has representation in the top 100 and think it's completely ludicrous that these songs have enough consensus among the RS staff that they're as good as any song ever written.
― Indexed, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 13:49 (two years ago) link
gtfo with royals
― Indexed, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 13:50 (two years ago) link
it's especially a problem bc their taste really nosedives across the last two decades, before that it's all very canonical obviously & not that interesting. when it gets more distinctively modern rolling stone and they start throwing in harry styles and "fix you" of all coldplay songs and "dynamite" as the worst possible token pick etc. it's very strange
and even "dancing on my own" is decent but nowhere near as good as this list says it is
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 14:01 (two years ago) link
"why is the rolling stone website so broken" - a question i have been asking for most of my life
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 14:04 (two years ago) link
Yep. Enough already, Rob Sheffield!
― triggercut, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 14:19 (two years ago) link
I've only got a glancing familiarity with the more recent stuff, so can't judge, but looking at the top 25, it's pleasing that "Waterloo Sunset" came ahead of "Bohemian Rhapsody", despite the fact that there was no terrible recent biopic called Waterloo Sunset.This list and last year's album list show they've really changed their method from the old "here's your recent favourite at number 495, now be quiet" process.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 14:37 (two years ago) link
He finally stopped playing “Teen Spirit” for good — taking his own life on April 5th, 1994.
oof
― jmm, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 14:50 (two years ago) link
Waiting for this list to load on my phone makes me want quit the internet. Wtf is embedded in this page?
― enochroot, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 15:07 (two years ago) link
xp wtf
― Indexed, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 15:20 (two years ago) link
"royals" at 30 lmao
loooool
― aegis philbin (crüt), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 15:26 (two years ago) link
"So What" coming in at 492 is pretty funny.
― jmm, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 15:29 (two years ago) link
He finally stopped playing “Teen Spirit” for good
It reads better if you imagine George Jones reciting that.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 15:42 (two years ago) link
daddy yankee's "gasolina" coming in at #50 is fantastic, justifies the whole thing
― grove street (party) direction (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 15:46 (two years ago) link
"get ur freak on" in the top ten is like. . . i mean, this is a joke, right?
― things repeat forever and there never is a remedy (Austin), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 17:13 (two years ago) link
should be higher, true
― grove street (party) direction (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 17:23 (two years ago) link
Do people really still think "Runaway" is Kanye's best song?
― Indexed, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 17:52 (two years ago) link
did the elton john biopic drastically inflate his critical standing or something?
"Tiny Dancer" is significantly higher than any Elton John song on the 2004 list, but he has fewer songs overall.
ELTON JOHN ⬇️2004136. Your Song242. Rocket Man347. Candle in the Wind380. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road387. Tiny Dancer202147. Tiny Dancer149. Rocket Man202. Your Song371. Bennie and the Jets— John M. Cunningham (@jmcunning) September 15, 2021
― jaymc, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 18:22 (two years ago) link
The Who's stock seems to have fallen pretty far. Or farther.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 18:42 (two years ago) link
Grande released “Thank U, Next” a little more than a year after her concert in Manchester, England, came under attack
It was 18 months later... NBD, I guess, but why fudge the timeline? (It reads like they wanted to write about "No Tears Left to Cry," but it didn't make the list.)
― tumblin’ dice outro (morrisp), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 20:56 (two years ago) link
Surprised Schubert didn't make it. So many canonical songs.
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 22:22 (two years ago) link
“ave maria” ffs
― brimstead, Wednesday, 15 September 2021 23:53 (two years ago) link
lolz imagining JYP forcing ITZY and TWICE to sit in a room and make them rank Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac songs pic.twitter.com/CtBWdvVrKH— Patrick St. Michel (@mbmelodies) September 16, 2021
also why the hell is the voters list presented so terribly
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/500-greatest-songs-voters-list-1225358/
― ufo, Thursday, 16 September 2021 00:59 (two years ago) link
srsly
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Thursday, 16 September 2021 01:08 (two years ago) link
Strictly speaking, they have ranked recordings of songs rather than songs themselves.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 16 September 2021 01:12 (two years ago) link
Fischer-Dieskau robbed
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Thursday, 16 September 2021 01:20 (two years ago) link
They sort of seem to think they ranked “albums”:
Voters were asked to submit ranked ballots listing their 50 favorite songs of all time. Votes were tabulated, with the highest-ranked album on each list receiving 300 points, the second highest 290 points, and so on down to 44 points for number 50. More than 4,000 albums received at least one vote.
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 16 September 2021 01:27 (two years ago) link
A text search reveals that those words are just left over from last year's album poll. I wouldn't want Rolling Stone to try too hard to correct the boilerplate text from an article published 12 months ago, that kind of fussy attention to detail is what killed rock music.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 16 September 2021 01:35 (two years ago) link
Bob Dylan: From 12 songs to 7, and tumbled from the #1 spot. The new list is the better one.
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 01:42 (two years ago) link
they should've just published Greg Dulli's list
― the adventures of pavlo and schrödis (geoffreyess), Thursday, 16 September 2021 02:45 (two years ago) link
Sadly, they seem to have removed that wonderful sentence from the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” blurb (I’ve seen ppl clowning on it, with screenshots, so Twitter has proof it existed).
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 16 September 2021 05:14 (two years ago) link
Are the individual ballots available somewhere?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 16 September 2021 14:50 (two years ago) link
I love seeing the writing credits for these songs. Had no idea "Flava In Ya Ear" incorporated a Carpenters sample. (At least, I assume it does, given the Paul Williams/Roger Nichols credit.)
― henry s, Thursday, 16 September 2021 14:53 (two years ago) link
As is usually the case with critics "all-time" polls, you can see the stratification by different levels of popularity in the more recent material vs the older material. More recent songs predominantly come from the "semi-popular" strata where most critical darlings reside, whereas older songs have more of a barbell distribution of very popular stuff and very obscure stuff. Over time people's antipathy to the most recent very popular songs (whether due the taint of association with their current fanbase or simply overexposure) will fade and the cream of the mega-popular songs will receive their critical due. Likewise over time, some obscure tracks from today that prove influential or ahead of their time will become more widely known and appreciated. But as of right now, the fanbase of these songs is too small and splintered to place them in a poll of this type.
― o. nate, Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:45 (two years ago) link
How dare you not poll this: 50 Best Songs of All Time According to Rolling Stone's BRAND NEW, 100% Revamped Top 500
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:22 (two years ago) link
It's in the 2004 blurb also. Many of these blurbs seem to be edits of the older ones.
― jmm, Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:32 (two years ago) link
Wait, what is that exactly?
― What Does Blecch Mean to Me? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:34 (two years ago) link
what the fuck pic.twitter.com/mge9t057y2— bring on the dancing horses (@inthefade) September 15, 2021
― jmm, Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:53 (two years ago) link
The only song I was surprised to see on the list (of the songs I'm familiar with) was "Radiation Vibe."
With respect to Adam S. (R.I.P.), it's a catchy chorus in search of a song; and I didn't think it had the cultural cache to end up as a consensus pick on a list like this. I thought it was just sort of a random mid-'90s CMJ sampler track that sounded cool for a spin or two at the time.
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 16 September 2021 17:23 (two years ago) link
Wasn't "Radiation Vibe" by the other FoW guy?
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 September 2021 17:35 (two years ago) link
Looks like they're both credited
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 16 September 2021 17:57 (two years ago) link
According to the list here: Whatever happened to Fountains of Wayne? (c/d?), "Radiation Vibe" was a Chris song, although they shared credits ala Lennon/McCartney.
I remember seeing that and feeling embarrassed because I'd just posted the RV video on FB as a tribute to Schlesinger.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 17 September 2021 00:16 (two years ago) link
The chorus of radiation vibe is better than 95% of the songs that exist in the world though.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 17 September 2021 01:05 (two years ago) link
Re: the new blood on the list, the bad songs make me scoff at list-making in a familiar way ("what kind of lunkheads would consider '7 Nation Army' even the best White Stripes song?"), but the good songs on the list really make me question the whole concept of a canon.
I mean, I do love "Dancing On My Own". It's amazing. But if pressed to list the best songs ever, I'd never list that one. But then I thought, why not? what actually makes "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" a better song? Is it just because more boomers have already sentimentalized it? Surely if that was on a best-of list in 1974, that would have been a joke. So in a way, their effort to keep the list fresh really just drives home the pointlessness of the whole exercise.
Also: Runaway is the best Kanye song to people who don't really like Kanye (like myself)
― enochroot, Friday, 17 September 2021 01:18 (two years ago) link
there's a former RS staffer who supervised at least one list for the mag that I know of, in 2016, who is participating on two of the threads re: this revised 500 songs list, so perhaps he can comment on the following if he feels like it… I wrote I think four or five entries for the 2004 list, and I can more or less ID the ones that have made it to this version… and yet I don't see why RS bothers with presenting the bylines of everyone whose contributions have survived… at least in my experience, the entries I was assigned were published with very little resemblance to what I filed, and so while I probly was one of the shittiest writers to be involved at that time and possibly deserved to have my shit rewritten, I doubt very much that I was unique in that regard… over the years I did some front of book shit that was also similarly rewritten, to the point where I was like "my name really shouldn't be credited for this," but these were still clips that would have been useful… but I don't see what the point is in crediting writers, whether for 2004 or for 2021, when every single entry is pounded into the dull house style (except for Rob Sheffield, who is allowed his tics)…
― veronica moser, Friday, 17 September 2021 14:09 (two years ago) link
"what kind of lunkheads would consider '7 Nation Army' even the best White Stripes song?"
Good lyric.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 September 2021 14:17 (two years ago) link
Are the individual ballots available somewhere?― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, September 16, 2021 9:50 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, September 16, 2021 9:50 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
A few voters have posted theirs:
my ballot :) pic.twitter.com/SmmQzUK0pi— brittany spanos (@ohheybrittany) September 15, 2021
the top of my Rolling Stone ballot. a few of these made the big list, including "Adore" & "Nightswimming," which are so spiritually linked for me https://t.co/SFynW5kvS0 pic.twitter.com/gl7KcrmNY1— rob sheffield (@robsheff) September 15, 2021
I was determined more women, POC and queer folks were included in the new @RollingStone list. So here's my ballot #RS500Songs I think it worked? https://t.co/oNh0cd5YaB pic.twitter.com/Tq0JTZ8eeV— Jerry Portwood (@jerryportwood) September 16, 2021
I voted in the Rolling Stone 500 Songs poll. Here’s my ballot. You probably haven’t heard No. 6 but you can listen to it at this link, it rules: https://t.co/UxCDeBhCrV pic.twitter.com/9dcIqrKk8P— Jody Rosen (@jodyrosen) September 16, 2021
― jaymc, Friday, 17 September 2021 15:27 (two years ago) link
i forgot to vote
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 17 September 2021 15:31 (two years ago) link