“American Pie” – Don McLean
“Bohemian Rhapsody” – Queen
“Hey Ya” – Outkast
“London Calling” – The Clash
“Nuthin But a G Thang” – Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dogg
“Respect” – Aretha Franklin
“Purple Rain” – Prince
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana
“Stairway to Heaven” – Led Zeppelin
“Welcome to the Jungle” – Guns N Roses
I think Prince – who had to be on the ballot in some way – should have been represented by either “Kiss” (his best song and one of the most-covered songs of the last thirty years) or “When Doves Cry” (probably more iconic than “Kiss”), both of which hit #1 in the U.S.
Keith, you have a point. And I do not sell ‘1-2-3 Red Light’ short — I love that song. It’s the Kasenatz-Katz bubblegum empire writ large, and I love me some bubblegum psych-pop.
If we want iconic songs, though, we really need to be systematic. Icons of pop-culture eras, perhaps — starting with the 1920s, I’d say, the hangover from which pervades corporate America to this day. Let’s fill in some songs for the decades you all have ignored.
1920s: My Blue Heaven. It is 2008 now, and you have heard this song, and to my mind it speaks to the 1920s more than its plethora of great blues tracks. That would be enough, but it is also a legitimately great tune. Honorable mentions: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Puttin’ On The Ritz
1930s: Summertime. If you do not love this song, you have no soul. HMs: Stormy Weather, Strange Fruit, So Long It’s Been Good To Know You
1940s: Pennsylvania 6-5000. I am not a huge fan of forties music, though I love forties hair. What can you do?
1950s: anything doo-wop. Well, within reason. Doo wop was punk before there was punk. HM: anything Elvis, anything Don & Dewey.
Anyhow, it was interesting. Can we get back to baseball now?
Ignore the outro to Layla? Ignore the work of Jim Gordon and Duane Allman? Anyone who believes this shouldn’t be allowed to listen to music. Seven minutes for a song isn’t very long either. Do you really have something better to do?
I’m still trying to figure out exactly what is iconic? If it showed up on Ed Sullivan, is the song iconic or the show? Without that show, Hound Dog is just another song.
A song like Soul Sacrifice by Santana is pretty iconic when you put in the context of their performance at Woodstock. Nirvana playing All Apologies on Unplugged was iconic.
How does U2 not get a sniff on all of these lists? “Where the Streets Have No Name” was awesome in the mid-80s. I would encourage anyone to watch the youtube of U2 performing that song at halftime of the 2002 Super Bowl (the first post 9/11) and then tell me it is not iconic.
Should more than 1 song from a certain era be iconic? When I picked my list I felt like I had to pick just one song where there was overlap (for instance Smells Like Teen Spirit trumps Alive). I think the disco era and the 80’s college radio scene got snubbed (although YMCA was a good disco choice).
Maybe it was bad timing for me but the late 90’s pop scene is pretty much responsible for my long separation from any popular music. An era perhaps best forgotten.
I can’t say the same for disco, though. You may find the look to be completely ridiculous but there was a lot of high quality music coming out around that time. Disco musicians definitely had better chops than the popular 1-4-5 bands of the early rock years (50’s).
OK, I’ll bite. I’m sure by bosses would be happy to learn I wasted about an hour at work on this.
“American Pie” – Don McClean
“Imagine” – John Lennon
“Like A Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan
“Mack The Knife” – Bobby Darin (any song with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht has to be on the list + this is arguably the biggest pop hit of all time)
“My Generation” – The Who
“Oh Pretty Woman” – Roy Orbison
“Respect” – Aretha Franklin
“Satisfaction” – The Rolling Stones
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana
“Stairway to Heaven” – Led Zeppelin
I was going to write a 10,000 word rant on why this list is awful in general, but I’ll spare the board, and just note the fact that “Candle in the Wind ’97” by Elton John which is the biggest selling single of ALL TIME did not make the list and “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley did.
I have to include “sittin on the dock of the bay”- Otis Redding and “under the bridge” – Red Hot Chili Peppers. I am fine with the rest.
not one oasis song has been mentioned here. they were one of the best bands in the 90’s. i personally think that ‘wonderwall’ is the one of the best songs of the 90’s.