I've always really enjoyed reading people's lists on Metacritic. The greatest album's thread ever is great, and I decided to make a list of my 50 favorite songs ever. It took me 2 long months but I've finally come up with my list.

I guess I should say that I'm 31, my favorite present music would be similar to many on here (alt/indie), but I grew up mainly with classic rock, cheesy 80's music, and old R & B, Motown, etc; through my Dad.

I'm a bit dissapointed my list becomes a bit predictable at the end, but it is honest. I was hoping to put some recent indie stuff in my top 5 but, it would have been disingenious. Maybe over time they will be but it was too early to put them that high. Also, there are some cheesy/quirky songs on my list but everyone would probably have these.

Finally, I wanted to say, this is not just an exercise for me to say look at my list. While I'd love to hear your thoughts on my list, I'd mainly like to see other's lists. I've always loved learning great music from Metacritic and what better way than to see people's favorite songs ever. So here's mine...

50. "Mr. Blue Sky" - ELO
49. "Train in Vain" - The Clash
48. "Hearts" - Marty Balin
47. "Unfinished Symphony" - Massive Attack
46. "Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads
45. "Sultans of Swing" - Dire Straits
44. "In a Sentimental Mood" - John Coltrane
43. "Baker Street" - Gerry Rafferty
42. "Wishlist" - Pearl Jam
41. "Idiot Wind" - Bob Dylan
40. "Make me Smile" - Steve Harley
39. "Don't stop Believing" - Journey
38. "The Lord's Prayer" - Mario Lanza
37. "Let's spend the Night Together" - The Rolling Stones
36. "Man in Black" - Johnny Cash
35. "One" - Metallica
34. "Mother" - Pink Floyd
33. "Live Forever" - Oasis
32. "The Shadow of your Smile" - Tony Bennett
31. "Declaration of Independence" - The Fifth Dimension
30. "Love will tear us Apart" - Joy Division
29. "Redemption Song" - Bob Marley
28. "Rainbow Connection" - Kermit the Frog
27. "Fairytale of New York" - The Pogues with Krisy MacColl
26. "You'll never walk alone" - Roy Hamilton
25. "Creep" - Radiohead
24. "Crazy" - Gnarls Barkley
23. "Who knows where the time goes" - Nina Simone
22. "Smells like teen spirit" - Nirvana
21. "Something" - The Beatles
20. "Someone Great" - LCD Sounsystem
19. "Fade to Black" - Metallica
18. "Teen Age Riot" - Sonic Youth
17. "Try a little Tenderness" - Otis Redding
16. "Dogs" - Pink Floyd
15. "Juicy" - The Notorious B.I.G.
14. "Roscoe" - Midlake
13. "Hey Ya" - Outkast
12. "My Way" - Frank Sinatra
11. "Right Down the Line" - Gerry Rafferty
10. "Come on Eileen" - Dexy's Midnight Runners
9. "These Eyes" - The Guess Who
8. "Marquee Moon" - Television
7. "Behind Blue Eyes" - The Who
6. "Forever Young" - Alphaville
5. "Like a Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan
4. "The First Time ever I saw your Face" - Roberta Flack
3. "Whiter Shade of Pale" - Procul Harum
2. "Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin
1. "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen

Rainbow Connection!!

You're a fucking classic, best!!

Yeah, I noticed that too. I used to listen to that song over and over and over on my little yellow Sony Walkman...while playing with GI Joes.

I find it interesting that "Crazy" is just one step above "Creep", and "My Way" just above "Hey Ya".

Great list. Thanks.

Dude, Rainbow Connection is a fantastic song.

Good topic, I'll contribute when I get home from work and can look at my iPod.

There is no way I could ever compile a list like this. That said, I recently came to the conclusion that "Where Will I Be" by Emmylou Harris is probably my favorite song ever.

quote:

Rainbow Connection!!

I figured I'd take flak for that choice but it truly is a great song, and the fact I loved it when I was really young and still love it meant a lot in its ranking.

Shadrach and Chambkerk, thanks for agreeing that it's a great song.

PRG, it took me over 2 months, but I bet you could do one. I'd love to see others lists as well. I see so many great album lists on this site but what are some of Metacritic's users favorite songs ever. Even if it's only a top 5 or top 10, I'd love to see them.

I'm pretty sure Radiohead's new album is inspired by "The Rainbow Connection".

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
I'm pretty sure Radiohead's new album is inspired by "The Rainbow Connection".

I thought they were finally coming out of the closet. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It can be both or squared, ya know?

Rainbows are psychedelic.

Oh god... I'm feeling the need to write blurbs for them.

No blurbs and in only a rough order.

Beatles - Here Comes the Sun
Beach Boys - God Only Knows
The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights

Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
The Who - Baba O'Riley
Beach Boys - Sloop John B
Radiohead - Let Down
Wilco - Jesus, Etc.

Eels - Railroad Man
Led Zeppelin - Over the Hills and Far Away
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice
David Bowie - Suffragette City

New Pornographers - Bleeding Heart Show
David Bowie - Life on Mars?
Beatles - Yesterday
Bob Dylan - One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

John Lennon - Stand By Me
Smashing Pumpkins - Galapagos
Jump Little Children - Cathedrals

Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise
Neko Case - I Wish I Was the Moon

Stevie Wonder - Superstition
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 Shoreline
Bob Dylan - Desolation Row
The Decemberists - The Legionnaire's Lament

U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
Earth, Wind and Fire - September
Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Toto - Africa
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
Weezer - Holiday
Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
Pipettes - Pull Shapes

The National - Mr. November
The Cure - Just Like Heaven
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Elliott Smith - Bottle Up And Explode!
Pavement - Fillmore Jive

The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Biomusicology
The Clash - Death or Glory
Jackie Wilson - Higher and Higher
Jackson Five - I Want You Back

here is a kind of a non-official list, with no particular order, but most of these songs could surely be in my top 50 of favorite songs ever.
And i'm not trying to be kind of "objective" because these are totally personal choices that comes to mind right now:

Nick Drake - Road, Parasite, from the morning, Northern sky, Way to blue.
Joy Division - She's lost control, Decades
Radiohead - fitter happier, paranoid android, in limbo, there there
Wilco - Hell is chrome, less than you think (including the 13 minutes of pure noise), Ashes of american flag, poor places, via chicago.
Interpol - Evil, Not even jail
Sigur Ros - Ny Batteri, Olsen Olsen
Primus - John the fisherman, Lacquer head (espacially live), shake hands with beef, Bob's party time lounge, southbound pachyderm.
Air - Cherry blossom girl, Run
Johnny Cash - Hurt
AFI - Paper airplanes (makeshift wings)
Whiskeytown - Houses on the hill
Coldplay - in my place
Ladytron - white light generator
The Postal service - this place is a prison
The Notwist - Pick up the phone
Refused - New noise
Alexisonefire - No transitory
Godspeed you black emperor - anthennas to heaven
The White Stripes - When i hear my name
Rage Against The Machine - Renegades of funk, vietnow
Sam Roberts - Every part of me
Kid Koala - Skanky Panky
Sonic Youth - Trilogy (Eliminator Jr.)
The Field - Good things end
Mcluskyism - without MSG i am nothing
Nada Surf - popular
Smashing pumkins - bullet with butterfly wings
The Avalanches - frontier psychiatrist
cLOUDEAD - physics of a unicycle
British sea power - blackout
Mogwai - Robot chant

and some other french songs you'll probably not care about.

Gimme some French, Tweedy! Gimme some French!

quote:

Originally posted by
PRG, it took me over 2 months, but I bet you could do one. I'd love to see others lists as well. I see so many great album lists on this site but what are some of Metacritic's users favorite songs ever. Even if it's only a top 5 or top 10, I'd love to see them.

Ok, ok. I'll try to come up with some. Mine may mirror egg's list in that I may not be able to rank them properly. And mine will be more official in that I know they would be in my top 100 somewhere. I'll post later.

i really want to list my top 50, but it'd take forever and i don't have the time or endurance. imagine the top fifteen filled with springsteen, ryan adams, radiohead and U2 and you get the idea.

quote:

Posted 03 October 2007 06:08 PM Hide Post
i really want to list my top 50, but it'd take forever and i don't have the time or endurance. imagine the top fifteen filled with springsteen, ryan adams, radiohead and U2 and you get the idea.

I thought my list was going to be my favorite songs by my favorite artists, but it didn't turn out like that at all.

I really want to list mine too! But I have a different sort of idea I'm going to follow through on soon that's going to end up looking very much like if I did list my top 50, and I don't want to be really repetitive.

quote:

Finally, I wanted to say, this is not just an exercise for me to say look at my list. While I'd love to hear your thoughts on my list, I'd mainly like to see other's lists. I've always loved learning great music from Metacritic and what better way than to see people's favorite songs ever."

But this made me very happy to read, so thank you

quote:

this made me very happy to read, so thank you

you got it.

This is a brutal exercise. Impossible to really come up with my 50 favorite songs, because on any given day the way I hear a song can change. This is by far the most volatile list I've ever compiled-- even the top 10 is susceptible to significant change over the next few hours. With apologies to the hundreds of songs that I've forgotten or left off on purpose here's my current Top 50 (as of 1:04pm EST, October 6, 2007):


50. “The Staggering Genius” - Superdrag
49. “Everything Flows” – Teenage Fanclub
48. “Tally Ho” – The Clean
47. “Lost Cause” - Beck
46. “Reason to Believe” – Tim Hardin
45. “Left in the Dark” – The Vertebrats
44. “I Want You Back” – The Hoodoo Gurus
43. “Why Do I Cry” – The Remains
42. “Lost in the Supermarket” – The Clash
41. “Outdoor Miner” - Wire
40. “7:30” – The Pernice Brothers
39. “Sonic Reducer” – The Dead Boys
38. “Dream All Day” – The Posies
37. “Lines in the Suit” - Spoon
36. “All Strung Out Over You” – The Chambers Brothers
35. “Skull” - Sebadoh
34. “All Kindsa Girls” – The Real Kids
33. “Tom Courtenay (Acoustic, Georgia sung version)” – Yo La Tengo
32. “It’s Not Funny Anymore” – Hüsker Dü
31. “12 O’Clock High” – The Dirty Looks
30. “Yesterday’s Papers” – The Rolling Stones
29. “Now” – The Plimsouls
28. “Handsome Devil” – The Smiths
27. “White Trash Heroes” – Archers of Loaf
26. “Sun” – The Toms
25. “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” – The Buzzcocks
24. “Strawberry Letter 23” – Shugie Otis
23. “Ooh La La” – The Faces
22. “The Party Rages On” - Zumpano
21. “Rain” – The Beatles
20. “A New England” – Billy Bragg
19. “Atlantic City” – Bruce Springsteen
18. “Bring it on Home to Me” – Sam Cooke
17. “Here Comes My Baby” – Cat Stevens
16. “Rock & Roll” – The Velvet Underground
15. “American Girl” – Tom Petty
14. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” – Joy Division
13. “Going Underground” – The Jam
12. “Everyday People” – Sly and the Family Stone
11. “Dignified and Old” – The Modern Lovers
10. “September Gurls” – Big Star
09. “I Can’t Pretend” – The Barracudas
08. “Left of the Dial” – The Replacements
07. “Echos Myron” – Guided by Voices
06. “Damaged Goods” – Gang of Four
05. “Pretty Persuasion” - REM
04. “Academy Fight Song” – Mission of Burma
03. “The Kids Are Alright” – The Who
02. “Be My Baby” – The Ronettes
01. “Waterloo Sunset” – The Kinks

Good job Maximum. It is tough, and obviously it is volatile. That's why I tended to side with songs that I've known longer. While there are 100's of indie songs I'd rather hear right now than Stairway to Heaven, I had to rank that so high since I have loved the song for 20 years. Your list contains much more indie/new stuff than mine. I was hoping mine would be like that but I ended out going for more classic rock songs.

Anyway, thanks for the great list.