Here's my ever changing, ever shifting pop top ten list of all time. Here's the thing: you
must mention at least one interesting attribute of the song, if you can!

"Lay Your Head on My Pillow" - Tony! Toni! Tone!
The pedal steel guitar flourishes are beautiful; plus, I like the Isley Brothers inspired guitar
rolls.

"God Only Knows" - The Beach Boys
The opening line by that forlorn french horn is so nice; and, I like the crescendo heard to-
wards the end of the song. That middle section, though.

"When Doves Cry" - Prince
I love the intricate production and arrangement; and, I like Prince's background vocals and
the screaming part "Eeeeyyyeee-ip! Eeeeeeyyyyyyyeeee-ip! Oh-oh-oh-hunh! Eeewwwoo!"

"Lover, You Should’ve Come Over" - Jeff Buckley
JB was a great singer, but he's also a great songwriter as the chord progressions in this song are
so strange but how he puts 'em together, it's such a harmonically rich composition.


"Behold! The Nightmare" - The Smashing Pumpkins
Billy Corgan is a great melodicist and a literate lyricist and all of these things get featured here.
Plus, I love the banjo during the middle section.

"High Speed" - 2Pac
Tupac, like most of us, was conflicted and this song represents his plea to get his comrades to
slow it down just a notch, baby; {because} everything's gonna be all right. And I really like the
piano too.

"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" - Marvin Gaye
Beautiful vocal melody. Beautiful jazzy arrangement and structure. Beautiful vocals. Beautiful
lyrics. All on the most beautiful pop album of all time, imo. And as long as humans never lose
their awful stewardship of the earth, the song never loses its relevance.

"True" - Spandau Ballet
I love the synth base line and the fade out; but this song reminds me of my wife and that's mostly
why it's on this list.

"Ur Personal Army" - Van Hunt
Hunt is my favorite R&B songwriter: he's a thoughtful lyricist; he's a thoughtful composer; his
musicianship is on point. And this song showcases these talents. That middle section, though.



"Shooting Star" - Elliott Smith
One of the few times Smith got grungy with a production that still keeps his spiderweb-like
whispery vocals and great guitar playing in place on top of a pretty vocal melody.



What does your list look like?!

ooh child ...is the best pop song ever written

I could not make up my mind, but When Doves Cry, Earth Song and To Ramona are there.

214 said:

I could not make up my mind, but When Doves Cry, Earth Song and To Ramona are there.

What is it about those songs that you like?

NorthC said:

B52s: Love Shack Putting the word love in a song always works. This is just a funny happy tune. The Temptations: My Girl The guitar intro! The vocals! And the lyrics just describe how happy love makes you feel. Fun Loving Criminals: Scooby Snacks Hip hop meets pop. It got Quentin Tarantino angry, what more do you want. Prince: Mountains Any song that starts with "once upon a time" just has to be a fairy tale. And it's got a helluva beat. New Radicals: You Get What You Give Dutch radio played this to death back then in 96 or 97 (I forgot the year but boy do I remember the song!) We're flat broke, but hey, we do it in style. And he kicks Marilyn Manson's ass! Terence Trent d'Arby: Wishing Well Wow, was this a stunning debut! It's got a beat, an attitude and a Rolling Stones reference that I didn't get at 16, but now I do. (Midnight Rambler.) The Presidents of the USA: Peaches Peaches come from a can/they were put there by a man/in a factory downtown. Plus, the two guitarists together have only five strings. And then a sound like that! The Band: The Weight Just brilliant storytelling. Was feeling 'bout half past dead... Nena: 99 Lutfballons Strong anti-war message and we just HAVE to have a non-English song in here. M: Pop Music That's what it's all about, innit?

Hmm...

I'm gonna have to go listen to TTD again! Thanks, dude!.

B52's - Rock Lobster:

This song is amazing to just shake that butt and have some fun! "Rock lobstah!"

The Beatles- In My Life:

Perfect song to reminisce about the good ol' times. Beautiful piano solo too.

Prince - Little Red Corvette:

In the world of Prince classic pop songs, this one gets the cake for having a superb guitar solo by one of the finest underrated guitarist, Dez Dickerson

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing:

"Get up, get up, get up, get up! Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" Feel like making babies whenever this song turns up on shuffle The video is hilarious.. especially when Marvin temperature goes high when he peeps that doc's a.s.s.

Sly & the Family Stone - Hot Fun In the Summertime:

Ah, where to begin with this song... let's start with those violins (when has Sly ever used violins before?). Really one of the greatest pop songs ever, not much else to say. "pum-pum-pum-pum-pum when i want to!!"

Stevie Wonder - You Are the Sunshine of My Life:

Jazzy and cozy, and very lovey-dovey. But pay attention to those layered instruments and voices...

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way:

Very unorthodox for a pop song, considering that it goes verse-chorus-verse-chorus... etc never stopping for a bridge in between, but there is an amazing guitar solo towards the end. The pounding dums can be translated to pounding hearts of the characters in this song, who each choose to "go their own way"

Procol Harum - Whiter Shade of Pale:

The organ line is just stunningly beautiful. The lyrics are odd and psychedelic, but boy do they hit hard.

The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want:

Gospel-rock jam about the hard plain truths of life.

The Clash - Train In Vain:

Mick Jones doing the vocals, not Strummer. It's less of a rock song than a break-up pop song. Features use of harmonica, very rare for a Clash song... but oh well, when the hell was The Clash a conventional band?

.

Tried keeping it one song per artist, or else my list would consist entirely of Sly & the Family Stone songs Too lazy to detail why I love these cuts, ummm maybe later i'll find some time to fill in some words

Edit:done.

[Edited 4/7/16 11:51am]

duccichucka said:

214 said:

I could not make up my mind, but When Doves Cry, Earth Song and To Ramona are there.

What is it about those songs that you like?

Lyrics, vocal performance and the overall production, in regard to the Bob Dylan song is the lyrics, such a wonderful but sad folk song.

Family Affair and A Day in The Life are there as well.

teezee said:

This is really hard and could change, but I will stick to one song per artist.

.

Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack Flash the energy and guitar power make this song, plus its a cool lyric. In fact its a gas, it really it is.

David Bowie - Suffragette City - quirky and underrated, cool pop with infectious melody.

Tommy James and The Shondells - Crimson and Clover, the layers in this song and the sounds are amazing.

Beach Boys - Good Vibrations, as above, a solidly made classic - a genius song, harmonies and sound.

Madonna - Like a Virgin - perfect slutty pop, infectious beat and Madonna doing her best Minnie Mouse voice.

Whitney Houston - Saving all my love for you, just perfect, the slow burning ballad and she has so much passion and the 2nd half her voice is flawless at such a young age (22)

Prince - Little Red Corevtte, of all his best songs, this is the best pop song and pop hit, WDC a close second, the chorus drives it.

Stevie Wonder - You are the Sunshine of my life - perfect soulful joyous pop and a great love song, Wonderlove vocals too make it nice. Prince and Stevie easily have 10 or more pop songs that could be my favourite.

Michael Jackson - The Way you make me feel, power pop and a dance filled love song, lots of aows, slick beats and Michael Singing in his frenetic voice, everything that makes a MJ song great is here. And there are many others that come close.

Donna Summer - Love to Love you - best sex and disco jam ever made, the 4 minute version is perfect pop disco, the 18 minute version is an orgy set to music.

madhattter said:

teezee said:

B52's - Rock Lobster

The Beatles- In My Life

Prince - Little Red Corvette

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing

Sly & the Family Stone - Hot Fun In the Summertime

Stevie Wonder - You Are the Sunshine of My Life

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

Procol Harum - Whiter Shade of Pale

The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want

The Clash - Train In Vain

Tried keeping it one song per artist, or else my list would consist entirely of Sly & the Family Stone songs Too bothered to detail why I love these cuts, ummm maybe later i'll find some time to fill in some words

My sentiments exactly! Sly and the Family Stones innovation, influence, and lyric in many of their songs remain as a benchmark for all to follow!

I agree that this is a good list. And I have no earthly idea why I am not a bigger Stevie Wonder
fan than I am today for he has everything I like in music: great melodies; great compositional
structure (he's got a great ear and a wonderful sense of orchestral color and chromaticism) and
he's socially conscious without being didactic or preachy.

madhattter said:

teezee said:

B52's - Rock Lobster

The Beatles- In My Life

Prince - Little Red Corvette

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing

Sly & the Family Stone - Hot Fun In the Summertime

Stevie Wonder - You Are the Sunshine of My Life

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

Procol Harum - Whiter Shade of Pale

The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want

The Clash - Train In Vain

Tried keeping it one song per artist, or else my list would consist entirely of Sly & the Family Stone songs Too bothered to detail why I love these cuts, ummm maybe later i'll find some time to fill in some words

My sentiments exactly! Sly and the Family Stones innovation, influence, and lyric in many of their songs remain as a benchmark for all to follow!

precisely

just spin their Greatest Hits album and you can find yourself listening to a dozen pop masterpieces

teezee said:

madhattter said:

teezee said: My sentiments exactly! Sly and the Family Stones innovation, influence, and lyric in many of their songs remain as a benchmark for all to follow!

precisely

just spin their Greatest Hits album and you can find yourself listening to a dozen pop masterpieces

Yet, they will be missin.

I should've made room for Mary J. Blige's "Mary's Joint." I love this song; her vocals are
on point and I love that 90s styled production with the vocal polyphony at the end.