Sometimes we look at "pop" as a dirty word but most classic songs we think of can fall under the pop label. Now that we are 3 years into the 21st century, I was curious as to who y'all think composed and/or produced the best pop songs of that last century. The following people are the ones I feel made the biggest impact on the pop scene as a song-writer/producer. I took into account the quality as well as the shear number of songs each created.

#1 Burt Bacharach: Bacharach (writting mostly with Hal David) has had hits in all genres of music, including top 40, rhythm and blues, country, film scores and soundtracks. While he wrote hits many different artists, some of his most memorable are the ones he wrote for Dionne Warwick. Over a period of 10 years, he had a string of 39 consecutive chart hits with Dionne Warwick, such as "Walk On By," "Don't Make Me Over," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," "Promises, Promises," and "Message To Michael."
Burt Bacharach's motion picture scores have also achieved classic status. They include a series of memorable themes, such as "What's New Pussycat," "Arthur," "Night Shift," "Making Love," "Baby Boom" and the memorable "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," for which he received a pair of Oscars. Dude has written so many hits over such a long period of time, I had to make him #1.

#2 Paul McCartney & John Lennon: I know they each wrote some great songs seperately but they will be forever link by the classic songs they wrote as a duo. Songs like "I Want To Hold You Hand" "Let It Be" and "All You Need Is Love," are a huge part of pop culter. Honestly I'm not a big Beatles fan but you have to give these dudes props for what they created and the imapct they made.

#3 Prince: I think he could have ranked even higher if he had spent more of his carrer focusing on creating pop hits.(not that I would have wanted him to) Darryl Hall has described "Little Red Corvette" as a perfect pop song and I agree. "I Wanna Be Your Lover" "1999", "When Doves Cry", "Purple Rain" "Let's Go Crazy" "Kiss" and "Sign O The Times" just scratch the surface of his classic pop catalog. When you start adding up the hits from other artists like "Manic Monday" by the Bangels, "Nasty Girl" by Vanity 6 and most of the Times hits, you end up with a list of pop gems that it would take 10 or more artists combined to match.

#4 Quincy Jones: While he hasn't made as big an impact from the song-writting standpoint of the others on this list, he is second to none production wise. Don't forget dude was creating hits back in the 50's with "It's My Party". As a matter of fact, his work on "Thriller" and "Off The Wall" alone would rank him in the top 20 but when you add in all the other projects he has over-seen for people like, George Benson, Brothers Johnson, Donna Summer, etc you get someone that is the true definition of a maestro.

#5 Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis: From the SOS Band's "High Hopes" and The Force MD's "Tender Love" right up until Janet's "All For You" these cats have been pumpin out hits for 3 decades. Some people will try and rank them lower but I will be willing to go song for song a match them against anyone outside of the top 4 I have listed above.

Others that would be in my top 10. Elton John, Babyface, The Bee Gees, Billy Joel and Hall&Oats.
[This message was edited Fri Aug 8 13:59:15 PDT 2003 by intha916]

Uh Brian Wilson Hello???

Glad to see the Bee Gees get a mention. Probably the most consistent 'pop' writers ever.

see edit.
[This message was edited Mon Aug 11 10:03:14 PDT 2003 by Cloudbuster]

Where's MJ?

Cloudbuster said:

MJ has shared writting and production credits too often to fit my definition of a maestro

intha916 said:

Sure, but he's still written a good few on his own. And there's never been a more successful pop artist so I definately think he deserves a mention.

Someone also mentioned Brian Wilson and I agree that he is also well deserving. There's David Bowie as well. Maybe 10 is just too limiting.

intha916 said:

Quincy wouldn't agree with you.

intha916 said:

Mmm...if u'r gonna include JJ & TL or Q, than sure MJ deserves a place.

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
Rock With You
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Beat It
Billie Jean
Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Smooth Criminal
Heal The World
Black Or White
Who Is It
Will You Be There
Stranger in Moscow
They Don't Care About US

and many many others are written only by MJ. Some are amongst the best-known tunes ever.

+ he has production credits on his entire catalogue. Admittedly they are mostly co-production credits, but he did have a significant input.

If you're gonna include one trick pony's like Babyface in your list, it's almost impossible not to mention MJ.

(btw, i think u left out many others, but MJ should b a no-brainer)

Marrk said:

Also Michael gets credited with 'Executive Producer' which basically means he has the last say.

SpcMs said:

Psstt! MJ didn't write Rock With You.

Cloudbuster said:

I knew that! Just testing if everybody is paying attention

But MJ hasn't done enough for other artists and his own albums have been few and far between. If you read my original post you'll see I mentioned I took into account the number of songs as well as quality. Jam and Lewis have been work horses over the last two decades. Not sure of the exact number but I would guess they have had at least 30-40 top 40 hits during that time.
[This message was edited Mon Aug 11 13:27:48 PDT 2003 by intha916]

the "PIED PIPER",Da King of Modern R&B,the Sam Cooke,Marvin gaye&Michael Jackson all Rolled into One.R.Kelly.nobody can touch the King.He Combines all elements&Avenues&He is the Baddest Period IMHO.

mistermaxxx said:

mistermaxx, as much respect as I have for you, how could you possibly compare Tha R to Marvin Gaye?

stymie said:

as a story teller,ablity to Bring the Church&Everyday Street Vibe as one,also the depth in His Voice&Ideas reach a broad Spectrum.there lives have alot of Similarites IMHO.with R.Kelly there is no End in sight of His Greatness&Depth.that's just me.

mistermaxxx said:

Rock on with ya bad self.

mistermaxxx said:

Mistermaxxx, you've lost the plot mate.He's good but he's in no way in those three guys leagues.Never will be.He's ruined his chance of becoming a legend IMO.There's no getting away from it, he's tarnished just like MJ is (and always will be probably).That's a big admission for me to make, but it's a fact among a helluva lot of non-fans or semi-fans that i've discussed it with.

I'll always defend MJ though, much as i suspect you will with Robert.

HEY MAXXX!!! It's just good to see you on the board, mate.

Cloudbuster said:

thank you.

Marrk said:

I ain't lost nothing.it's a matter of taste&choice.You aren't tarnished unless you stop having Hits&talking to Your Audience.Michael Jackson is a Legend&still has His past Catelog to Debate with anybody else you wanna throw.He is only tarnished in the sense that what happen in the 80's will never happen again.but MJ long ago made His mark&I feel R.Kelly has as well.

Marrk said:

While I won't go into if these cats are pop maestros or not, being tranished has nothing to do with this thread. As Maxxx said, it's the body of work we need to look at when making this judgement. Image means nothing when viewing someones musical output.

The Gershwins? Sinatra? Ronnie Spector? Elton John? Elvis? Barry Gordy? Stevie Wonder?



Good list, though.

namepeace said:

Gershwins fo Sure.Sinatra:Great Artist&He didn't ahve to write a Damn thing either.ELton John along with Bernie Tauplin are up there from back in the day.Elvis:Great Artist but not much of a Writer same with Sinatra though I give FS the Edge of the two who moves me more.Stevie Wonder:of course&He is High High on the List.Berry Gordy Arguably the Most Important Man in Music during my Lifetime because He to Me is the Greatest Record Man.what He did with Motown will Never happen again.to know what worked here&there&to handle the details from the Words&music to Presentation I Mean the Guy was a Walking Genius&still the Standard of Music Making&Hit Labels IMHO.He was tight Songwriter&knew a Hit.