50 Best Songs of All Time According to Rolling Stone's BRAND NEW, 100% Revamped Top 500

30. Lorde, "Royals"
31. The Rolling Stones, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

^this is so fucking funny

Love this:

24. The Beatles, "A Day in the Life"
25. Kanye West feat. Pusha T, "Runaway"

I love or at least like about 40 out of these 50, but at the moment "My Girl" has the strongest claim, for me, of being one of humanity's finest achievements.

I like that Gasolina's there, token tho it may be. Still Be My Baby tho.

I voted for the Beatles but there were other contenders there of course.

Which one? I went with "Strawberry Fields Forever" but it was a toss-up with "A Day in the Life".

Lol sorry

“I Wanna Hold Your Hand”

I’m a sucker for dippy pop classic radio Beatles

"Superstition," but these 10 also ...

02. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
07. The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever"
08. Missy Elliott, "Get Ur Freak On"
09. Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams"
20. Robyn, "Dancing on My Own"
21. Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit"
22. The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"
26. Joni Mitchell, "A Case of You"
28. Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"
39. OutKast, "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)"

"Superstition" and "Idioteque" were close for me.

Nice to see “Paper Planes” in here

It’s been said before, but why does anyone like “Runaway”?

i can narrow it down to 14.

01. Aretha Franklin, "Respect"
02. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
03. Sam Cooke, "A Change Is Gonna Come"
08. Missy Elliott, "Get Ur Freak On"
10. OutKast, "Hey Ya!"
13. The Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"
16. Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z, "Crazy in Love"
21. Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit"
22. The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"
34. James Brown, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"
37. Prince, "When Doves Cry"
39. OutKast, "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)"
40. Jimi Hendrix, "All Along the Watchtower"
43. The Temptations, "My Girl"

it's probably going to be Jimi, Billie or "Gimme Shelter" but any one of these could take it imo.

20. Robyn, "Dancing on My Own"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

gasolina

Need a companion poll for worst.

Seven Nation Army would get my vote for that ^

seconded on 7 Nation Army

“Strange Fruit” might not be the worst but is the most “look-at-how-woke-we-are” inclusion.

Whatever, "Dancing on My Own" is the most inspired recent addition to this list.

“Strange Fruit” is too low at 21.

x post

voted for “juicy”

"Strange Fruit" really sticks out because it's probably the only pre-'50s track on the whole 500.

Unless there's some Carter Family or Robert Johnson or early Hank.

There is some Hank.

Worst is probably Fleetwood Mac, Kinks or Radiohead

Worst is Kanye.

Or "Imagine."

Worst for me is "Bohemian Rhapsody". I would pay a not insignificant sum if there was a way to block me from ever having to hear it again.

^I'll chip in if this method will block me from having to hear "Imagine" or "Hallelujah"! (admittedly the latter didn't make the Top 50)

Whatever, "Dancing on My Own" is the most inspired recent addition to this list.

― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Thursday, September 16, 2021 2:10 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

feel about this the way stirmonster does bohemian rapsody

"Strange Fruit" is good, but wouldn't be in my top 10 Lady Day songs. I would also put probably a few dozen Beatles songs over "Strawberry Fields Forever". Even "Day in the Life" doesn't really work in any context other than as the closer on Sgt. Peppers. I guess I'm an unreconstructed rockist but this would probably be "Like a Rolling Stone" for me.

solid number one.! voted hendrix, it was my #1 on the classic rock poll too

Difference between worst and most overrated. "Crazy in Love" is a great song. The 16th greatest song of all time?..eh...

I'd choose "Royals". Good song. No business being where it is!

Leaning toward "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Superstition" for best.

"Strange Fruit" is good, but wouldn't be in my top 10 Lady Day songs.

This is me with "Superstition." Doesn't mean I'm not still going to vote for it here.

"Strange Fruit” might not be the worst but is the most “look-at-how-woke-we-are” inclusion.

Wtf?

They're demonstrating their trendy political correctness by including an almost universally canonized anti-lynching song from 1939?

I can't speak for wokeness, but there is some element of trendiness to that song, which avoided all three previous versions of this list but now has a Kanye song, an Academy Award winning movie and ties to the Nina Simone renaissance

being mad at strange fruit's placement because of wokeness is an absolutely classic terrible post

100%!

Also Nina Simone renaissance

when was she ever not in vogue???

The last decade was like the Academy Award winning documentary, the botched biopic, the Watch the Throne sample, the Kanye sample, the Jay-Z sample the Kanye sample, Lauryn going to bat for her all the time, appearing in stuff like The Watchmen and then getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame like decades after she was eligible

Worst for me is "Bohemian Rhapsody". I would pay a not insignificant sum if there was a way to block me from ever having to hear it again.

― stirmonster, Thursday, September 16, 2021 3:33 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"Runaway"would probably get my vote for worst, but amen to this nonetheless.

its really funny how after all that Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" didn't even make the rolling stone list.

which to be clear i'm totally ok with, but it kind of goes against all the people telling me this list is supposed to be a measure of the temperature today rather than some historical narrative

I am oblivious to most of those things except for the documentary & the botched biopic but it has always felt to me she has been iconic and very present my whole life, with perhaps the odd heightened boost here and there.

x post

the Academy Award winning documentary

Nominated.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-nina-simone-captivated-a-new-generation-203955/

Not arguing against the notion that Nina is still cresting. That's what these updates are kind of all about tho.

Must be right if it's in Rolling Stone. LOL

Maybe it is different in the UK to the USA? She was always bigger and had more hit records here.

this is "Dreams" for me

I scrolled through this too fast and thought Daddy Yankee was the Damn Yankees and was like "man no wonder everyone is pissed about this list"

Lol

Go straight to hell, ILM.

― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.)

how does it feel to be on your owwwwwnnn

5 votes for "dancing on my own" is about as ridiculous as its recent overrating itself

1 vote for what's going on
what's going on

its not as good as 'dancing on my own,' obviously

I'm not the biggest Dylan fan and I voted for something else but "Like a Rolling Stone" is a 100% deserving winner. I never fail to find it compelling any time I hear it.

"Strange Fruit" is a great record and a greater cause, but Holiday has had much better records.

Well, many not MUCH better, but better records, at least performance-wise and musically speaking.

*maybe (not many)

These are so nauseating and I don't understand the impulse to rank music at all, but "I only have eyes for you" is the only song I can think of where a magazine could say "this is the #1 greatest song of all time" and I would think 'yeah, that sounds about right'

Think I'm gonna FP anyone who posts a list from here on out.

I voted for Gimme Shelter. One of the few songs that I keep hearing pretty regularly on the radio or in movies that I somehow never really tire of and still think is great.

I think ranked lists are bound to lead more to argument/derision than assent or constructive debate, though I do like interesting lists (esp if they're not ranked, which I guess is rare).

But how else do we know what the best songs are?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2FGRVRzXZM

Both of Otis Redding’s songs shut out.

The arguments and debates bother me as much as the lists or more, the idea that such a list could potentially be good if only they were more inclusive, or informed, or ranked in a different order, or whatever. No, the idea of a '500 greatest songs' is totally irredeemable, there are no best songs, just stop it imo

What if were just called "500 Cool Songs You Should Totally Hear and Stuff"?

How about: "500 Songs. Have at it."

500 songs. Some we like, some we had to add begrudgingly for clicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzdEd1dZJjA

At the risk of being flagged, I'll link here to the Top 50 that I contributed to Scott Woods's ongoing roundup on rockcritics.com. Much more canonical than some of the lists that have been collected thus far (including clemenza's), but less canonical than others, I guess:

https://rockcritics.com/2021/10/12/top-50-favourite-songs-jeremy-fairall/

Good list.

8. “No Easy Way Down,” Dusty Springfield (1969)
33. “Move With Me,” Neneh Cherry (1992)

hell yeah

Thanks! I made several drafts before finalizing, and those two songs were never not on my list.

"Inverness" is a nice pick if you only have one Scott Miller song.

Questlove's new list-based Music Is History sounds promising (comments & song excerpts):
In his new book, Roots co-founder Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson starts in 1971 and moves year-by-year through his life, writing about memories, turning points and the songs he listened to.
stream/download/transcript (Fresh Air)
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/12/1045247409/questlove-spins-the-soundtrack-of-his-life-in-music-is-history

Bashing "Strange Fruit" because of someone else's alleged motivations in posting it is some of that ol' classick reductive ilx religion---to say the least---

Aaand I took the bait, sry

But by that logic, any artist on here who's ever been subject of a documentary etc. could be exculded; hell whole list could be dismissed because it's pantheon-sucking trend-molesting Rolling Stone

This will seem weird, but it's meant to address an obvious problem.

I mentioned above that Scott Woods has been posting Top 50s on rockcritics.com--not an answer to the Rolling Stone list, but prompted by it and kind of related. Anyway, Scott's running into the same problem I encountered putting out a fanzine in the '90s where we rated hit singles: it's one male contributor after another. At the time, I was able to recruit a few female contributors, but it wasn't easy. The world has changed a lot in 25 years, but it in this regard, time seems to have stood still: females evidently aren't that big on rating or listing pop songs.

So this is a recruitment list, meant for ILM's female posters: if you'd like to put together a Top 50, with or without a short intro/comments, Scott will post it.

https://rockcritics.com/

Ladies, please make unpaid content for us

females evidently aren't that big on rating or listing pop songs submitting free work with no discernable benefit beyond peacocking the breadth and depth of your performatively diverse and eclectic tastes

"Unpaid content"--if you use language like that, I suspect you and I are from different universes. I've been doing this for 35 years, and I could take all the money I've made and go buy a few pizzas.

A few pizzas does sound pretty good tbh

JFC

People should be paid for their writing, but if it's just a ballot or list of 50 favorite songs and nothing else, I'm not sure I'd expect much compensation - maybe a free record I guess. If you offered real pay for an accompanying essay (assuming it's worthy of publication), that would be a nice incentive.

People should of course be paid when writing for venues that make (or at least attempt to make) money. Really and truly, this is not any different than the polls that go on here. (And it's not even a poll, just a bunch of a lists.) Rockcritics.com is a fan site that has been around for 20 years. I'd have to check with Scott, but I am 99% sure it generates 0% revenue.

Do you have to be a Rock Critic to contribute(?)

I'm actually not against what you're doing at all - all you're asking for is lists. If I ran a publication, I'd pay for an article, whether it was pitched to me or if I assigned it to someone, but if I got a list of 50 songs put on my desk, regardless of how much time or thought is put into it, it's still a list of 50 songs. I don't think Sight & Sound or Pazz & Jop give any monetary compensations for any of the thousands of ballots they've sent out for their esteemed polls, and though they don't require comments, people frequently give them.

Pazz & Jop used to pay a tiny bit, then they stopped a few years ago. For what it's worth, this is to help a friend--it's his site.

(xpost) Here's the very first iteration of rockcritics.com, going back to 2000. It's changed over the years, but I think the right answer is "no."

https://web.archive.org/web/20000823130535/http://www.rockcritics.com/

Pazz & Jop used to pay a tiny bit, then they stopped a few years ago.

Wow, I stand corrected. When you say stopped, do you mean because the Voice (before it was re-animated) closed shop?

we'd get paid for blurbs too

No, this was before they went under. It wasn't much, believe me--$10 per printed P&J comment?

I might be able to submit one! Not really sure if I have that unique of a perspective and I suck at blurbs since I’m not a writer or a native english speaker but yeah… I could maybe give it a try. I have probably such a list more or less curated by now.

Please do! If you look at the short intros that are there, I think you'll find them as informal as humanly possible.

No, this was before they went under. It wasn't much, believe me--$10 per printed P&J comment?

In that case, I definitely prefer a free record (as long as I get to choose)!

Thanks to this thread, I dreamt someone gave me a pizza. I didn't have to provide any lists in exchange though.

ILX'ors cryptosicko and Kevin J. Bozelka have their lists up there.

I've discovered the Tammys' "Egyptian Shumba" (1964) off KJB's list.